For Love of a Brother
by Pachimew
Summary: In which Sabo does a stupid thing, Ace and Koala are going to save him, and Luffy drags Law into this mess. Begins at Marineford but takes place mostly after it. In the same timeline as Triple Switch, but can be read by itself. Koala ASL sibling relationship, platonic LawLu with possible SaboLaw. Spoilers for Law's past and for Sabo up to Chapter 794. T for cursing and dark themes.
1. There is a Battle

**Well, it's been a month and a week or something like that, and the sequel to Triple Switch is finally on air.** **CONFETTI!**

 **I do NOT own One Piece, although the first few chapters pull a lot of dialogue from it. If you recognize it, it ain't mine.**

 **So: hello new readers, welcome back old readers, and I hope you all enjoy: For Love of a Brother.**

* * *

Marineford.

Ace knelt on the execution platform, staring blankly at nothing, wondering: how had it come to this?

'Well,' Ace thought sarcastically, 'I s'ppose it all began when that absolute _bastard_ killed Thatch.' If Thatch hadn't been killed, then Ace wouldn't have chased after his murderer, wouldn't have gotten captured, wouldn't be here now…

'Wouldn't have known that Sabo was alive,' offered the tiny part of Ace's mind that, somehow, always managed to find some sort of silver lining. It had always sounded a lot like Luffy.

Ace wasn't in the mood to count his blessings, and shot back at it that he would've found that out _any_ ways, since it was _Sabo_ who'd found that magic lamp and wished for his memories back. That was why he'd never contacted Ace and Luffy after they thought he'd died, he hadn't _remembered_ them…still. As long as Ace was dying, it was nice to die with the knowledge that Sabo would look after Luffy once he was gone.

Ace lifted his gaze to the bright blue sky, thoughts wandering to the debacle that had reunited the brothers only a few months ago. Despite himself, his lips quirked in a smile. It was funny, looking back, the chaos that had resulted from Sabo's wish. The genie in that lamp liked messing with people, and it had granted Sabo's wish in a very roundabout way - by _switching the bodies_ of Ace, Sabo, and Luffy.

They had spent five days trying to get back to normal, and most of that was just trying to get to the same island. Then Luffy had switched them all _again_ thanks to a badly worded wish. _Then_ they'd had to fight a bunch of Marines _while_ switched, and only gotten out of it because they'd used the genie's magic as a bargaining chip - threatening to switch the Marines' bodies unless they were allowed to go free.

Then they'd switched back, partied hard, accidentally called Gramps because Sabo had tried to make Ace call Whitebeard while they were all still hungover, and called Pops after they'd gotten out of _that._ Ace had told his crew he still planned to go after Blackbeard, the bastard, and later that day he'd left to do just that.

He'd had a transponder snail with him when he'd found Teach. Sabo had accidentally stolen it from an inn while he was in Ace's body ("How do you ' _accidentally'_ steal a snail?" "Look, the innkeeper had called the Marines on me and I had it in my hand, I forgot to put it down when I ran away") - Ace could've, _should have_ called someone. He could've called Sabo. He could've called Pops and the rest. Hell, he could've called the _Marines_ and given them an anonymous tip. Not that he would've done that.

But nooooo, he'd gotten cocky and thought he could take on Teach himself. Although, that wasn't really the whole reason. He'd wanted revenge for Thatch. He'd wanted to pound the traitorous scum into dust _himself_. He'd wanted the murderous asshole to _burn in agony_ while Ace watched and laughed-

Well. Look how well that had turned out. Ace didn't know how long he'd been in Impel Down, weakened physically by seastone and psychologically by the thought of the immense pressure of the water outside, with Jinbe the only friendly face to speak to for…Ace didn't know how long. For a very long time, it felt like.

That was, until just earlier (today?) Boa Hancock, of all people, had visited him. She'd said Luffy was coming to rescue him.

Ace desperately hoped she was lying, but it was just the sort of thing his little brother would do. Ace didn't particularly believe in God, but he still prayed that Luffy was okay, and safe; and was glad that Sabo, at least, would be far away from Marineford.

* * *

It was a beautiful day.

Too beautiful for an execution, Sabo thought bitterly.

He was on a small skiff, occupied only by himself, Koala, and Hack, dead set on a course for Marineford.

"Are you _sure_ this can't go any faster?" Sabo asked.

"For the last time, Sabo, _yes,_ I'm sure!" Koala snapped, "Stop asking!"

"Oh, well, excuse me for being a _little_ tense!" Sabo snapped back, " _Ace's life_ is on the line, Koala!"

"You think I don't care?! He's my brother, too!"

That made Sabo's mouth snap shut. Hack continued to make sure they were staying on course and pointedly did not look at either of them, carefully staying out of the siblings' argument.

Two years ago, Sabo and Koala had sworn siblinghood over saké, just as Sabo had with Ace and Luffy ten years ago; not that he'd remembered that at the time. Then, just a few short months ago, amid the confusion that had resulted when Sabo had jokingly wished for his memories back, Luffy had declared that since Koala was Sabo's sister, and Sabo was Ace and Luffy's brother, then Koala was Ace and Luffy's sister, too.

There was no arguing with Luffy Logic. Ace had simply accepted it. Koala had been hesitant at first, but not for long. And so, when news of Ace's imminent execution reached them, Sabo and Koala more or less dropped everything and _demanded_ that Dragon let them go rescue their brother.

Well, Sabo demanded. He was Chief of Staff. Supposedly, he'd have an easier time convincing Dragon. Supposedly.

As it turned out, demanding was unnecessary. Dragon had agreed straight away. Sabo had prepared an entire rant that went completely unused, and he honestly wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

After a moment, Sabo took a deep breath and put a hand on Koala's arm. "I'm sorry."

Koala exhaled. "I am, too. It's just…"

"We're worried," Sabo offered, "We're tense."

"Yeah," Koala nodded.

"Koala-san. Sabo-san." The two of them turned to look at Hack, who had stopped making his point and now met their gazes with a steely, determined look in his eyes. "We _will_ save your brother."

They managed to smile. "Thanks, Hack," Sabo said.

And this was on top of Luffy vanishing from Sabaody shortly after _punching a Celestial Dragon._ At least it had been Kuma who vanished him; Sabo knew the bearlike man could be counted on. For now, at least; maybe not anymore.

(Koala had cheered when she heard of Luffy's actions at the auction house, though, and he couldn't begrudge her that. He'd nearly joined in after he got over his panic.)

Sabo hoped that he and would be able to save Ace. Luffy, at least, would be okay. He was sure of it. He had to be.

* * *

The ocean at Marineford was calm and perfect for sailing.

Right up until Whitebeard's ships burst out of the water, and the man himself caused a seaquake, and the resulting waves were quickly frozen by Aokiji.

Things sort of snowballed from there.

The division squad leaders exploded into battle, and Marco's gaze swept the battlefield, briefly taking in the ocean of ice, the Vice Admirals standing to bar their way, the Warlords standing on the walls of the plaza entrance. Hawkeye struck at the Moby Dick - Jozu blocked it. Kizaru struck next, and Marco moved quickly, his blue and gold flames taking and healing the damage as he transformed his arms into wings, spiraling in front of Pops to block.

He exchanged a few terse phrases with Kizaru in a kind of mocking banter, trying to keep an eye on Pops and the rest of their nakama as Marco fought the Admiral. The phoenix was briefly worried when Akainu rained lava on their ships - but Pops had it handled.

Privately, Marco worried about the old man. Pops was already in bad health, and this battle wouldn't do him any favors. But he was determined - they were all determined. They would save Ace, and nothing would stop a single one of them, short of death.

Marines and pirates crashed together in explosions of violence. Oars Jr moved forwards, clearing their path. Distantly, Marco heard Ace scream for Oars to turn around, go back, and he heard Oars's shout of "I'm coming to save you!" as the giant stormed into the bay.

Pops issued a warning, then an order, and Marco pushed forwards with the rest of the crew, protecting Oars. Marco vaguely noticed Boa Hancock, attacking pirate and Marine alike without discrimination. ' _Better for us, then.'_

Then came Kuma's Ursa Shock, forcing Oars to his knees. The Marines concentrated all their fire on the huge giant (and maybe that was redundant, but really, Oars Jr was a giant among giants). Marco cursed. Doflamingo sliced off one of Oars's legs, and Marco cursed some more, worse words.

Ace was screaming. Oars was inside the plaza, reaching, his hand only yards away from Ace. Moria's shadow shot through him.

The giant fell, and Ace screamed, and Marco howled with pain in the privacy of his own mind.

They used Oars's body to advance. It was logical. It made sense.

It hurt.

Doflamingo had taken control of Atmos. Marco, high in the sky, vaguely noticed Akainu kill another Marine. Doflamingo made some sort of pithy speech. Whitey Bay arrived.

And Marco fought on, towards Ace.

* * *

The sun was hot and bright, and Garp was decidedly uncomfortable.

Not because of the heat, which was almost pleasant, and not because of the battle intensifying under his nose. No, it was because Garp was guarding his own grandson so the boy wouldn't escape _being executed._

In fact, to say he was only 'uncomfortable' was a massive understatement. Garp longed to unlock Ace's shackles himself and let the boy go free, but it was too late; the boy's parentage had been discovered, and Garp's duty bound him.

Garp made his way up to the execution platform, to be near his adoptive grandson one last time.

Ace picked up his head ever so slightly. "Gramps…"

Sengoku spoke over the boy. "What are you doing here, Garp? You haven't had second thoughts, have you?"

"No. We're fighting pirates here," Garp replied. He was solid in his beliefs - pirates were criminals, a plight on the world, terrifying and slaughtering the innocent. And it was the Navy's job to protect the innocent. "There's no reason to show them any mercy."

And he believed that. He truly did, with every fiber of his being.

He sat down next to Ace anyways.

"Then…" Sengoku began.

"Shut up!" Garp barked, "Just let me sit here!"

But.

"Outlaws deserve no mercy…" Garp said, his mind crowded with memories of a tiny Luffy, a small Ace, "But this is family!"

He heard Ace make a tiny, choked sound.

"What am I supposed to do?!" Against his will, tears well up in Garp's eyes. His nose began to run. "Ace! Why?!" He couldn't bring himself to look at his grandson, instead staring at the battlefield below. If only the boy had become a Marine. If only. Maybe then they wouldn't be here right now. Maybe it all would have been avoided.

(Maybe not.)

"Why didn't you live the way I told you?!"

"Old man!" Ace said, sounding shocked. Brat. It was like he'd never seen Garp cry. (Well, he hadn't.)

Sengoku's expression was ironclad. "Just don't get any funny ideas in your head, Garp, or I'll dispose of you too."

Garp snorted, despite the tears and the snot. "Hmph. If I were going to do something, I'd have done it a long time ago."

And that was about when Luffy fell from the sky.

* * *

 **Would it surprise you that the angst hasn't even started yet?**

 **I've had to break Marineford into like, three different parts. It is much longer than I thought it was. Once we get to the end of Marineford. That's when the angst begins. S angst.**

 **Anyways, leave a review! Please. I feed on those things. Part of the reason it took so long to write this was because I couldn't get motivated.**

 **On that note, thank you to YJV for reviewing. Do you know you are responsible for singlehandedly getting my ass to fucking finish up at least part one?**

 **Well, you are. Thanks.**

 **So, again, remember to review, and the next chapter is coming...who knows when. Two weeks? Probably that. Possibly less. Depends on you guys, really.**

 **See you all soonish!**


	2. The Battle Continues

**Goddamn, there's a lot of you. I'm so proud.**

 **Okay, before we get back into the story, let's cover some shit.**

 **Marineford's going to last probably five or six chapters, I dunno, I'm not done writing yet. This is mostly because I want to set a certain expectation for chapter length, which'll probably average at least 1,500 words per chapter.**

 **Angst hits at the end of Marineford. More angst, anyways.**

 **Updates are sporadic and can range from daily to a month of silence, because I am not consistent. At all. Marineford will probably be out and over with within the month, though.**

 **Also, review replies are at the end of chapters now.**

 **Anyways: back to the story!**

* * *

About five minutes earlier, Koala, Sabo, and Hack had managed to intercept a Marine broadcast. They had several snails with them; for communication, interception, broadcast…you never knew what could help. Anyways, they'd picked up on a communication.

Sabo's internal monologue had been reduced to constant, unending screaming ever since.

"They're going to execute Ace ahead of schedule!" Was that him yelling? It was hard to tell over the screaming in his mind. " _Over two hours ahead of schedule!_ Can't this damn boat go any-"

Someone shoved his head under the water as he leaned over the side of the ship. Then they yanked him out and slapped him.

"Focus!" Koala yelled, "We're nearly there! We're going to make it! I don't care if we have to break the rules of time and space and - and - _physics,_ we-! Will-! Be-! There!"

Sabo took a deep, gulping, gasping breath. "Right. Right. Thank you, Koala."

"Focus," she repeated, "Focus on the fight to come." She had a wild, tense look in her eyes. Sabo hugged her. She clutched at him like he was a lifeline.

"We'll be there," he said, and then again, because she needed to hear it as much as he did, "We'll be there."

Hack continued their course.

* * *

Luffy clambered up onto the highest part of the now-broken Marine battleship, breathing hard. Stupid water. His eyes landed on Ace.

"There he is," Luffy said to himself. He glanced around briefly for Sabo and Koala. It looked like they weren't here yet. But they would be. Luffy had beaten them here! Hah!

"LUFFY!" Ace yelled.

"ACE!" Luffy yelled back with a grin, waving happily, "I FINALLY FOUND YOU!" He got to his feet and into a fighting position, vaguely noticing the others coming to stand next to him.

They didn't matter. Nothing mattered except for the hat on his back and the distance between him and Ace. "I'M HERE FOR YOU!" Luffy yelled.

Luffy's attention flickered over to Ace's captain. He'd always wanted to meet Ace's crew, but he'd never gotten the chance. Well, he'd get his chance after this battle, just as soon as Ace was out and safe…

What was Crocodile doing?

Oh. He was trying to attack Ace's captain. Dumbass. Let's see, Luffy was still covered in water…

In the next second he had kicked Crocodile away, and the second after that he'd told him off for trying to attack the old man Ace likes.

"Boy, that straw hat…" Whitebeard said, picking up Luffy's attention, "looks a lot like the one Red Hair used to wear."

"You know Shanks?" Luffy asked, turning around. "I'm holding it for him."

"So you've come to save your brother, eh?" Whitebeard asked, which was kind of a stupid question. What else would Luffy be here for?

"Yeah!" He said anyways, because _duh._

"Do you know who you're up against? You'll be killed for sure!"

That pushed all the wrong buttons in Luffy's feelings. This guy didn't know what Luffy could do. This guy didn't know what Luffy _had_ done.

In the past probably-less-than-a-week, Luffy had been separated from his crew, fought and more or less beat his like third Warlord, broken into Impel Down, _almost died_ of poison, broken back _out_ of Impel Down, and crashed into the ocean.

He was probably forgetting some things.

And this guy thought Luffy couldn't save his brother? _Pssh._ Luffy was going to be the Pirate King. He could definitely save his brother. He hadn't even included Sabo and Koala's backup yet.

"SHUT UP!" Luffy yelled in response to the old man, "THAT'S NOT FOR YOU TO SAY!" He poured all his feelings into his words, he always did, but now that he felt so _strongly-_ "I KNOW THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO BECOME THE PIRATE KING! BUT I'M GOING TO BE THE PIRATE KING, NOT YOU!"

There was a pause. Then Whitebeard smirked. "Cheeky devil…" the man shifted into a strong, solid fighting stance. "YOU BETTER STAY OUT OF THE WAY, YOU LITTLE SNOT!"

"I'LL DO WHATEVER I WANT!" Luffy yelled back, because who was this guy to tell him what to do? Nobody could tell him what to do, not Gramps, not Dadan, and not this old fart! "I'M THE ONE WHO'S GONNA SAVE ACE!"

Oh. Wait. Right. He should probably tell the old man they were gonna execute Ace early.

* * *

Ace was in abject disbelief.

His baby brother was talking to his captain like they were equals. His baby brother who had _a-fucking-pparently_ broken into Impel Down, _for Ace,_ and then managed to break _out_ of Impel Down, _also for Ace,_ gathering up a bunch of prisoners as he went.

Prisoners who were _helping him._

Ace's little brother was spectacular and stupid and Ace had never, ever been so thankful that Sabo wasn't here. Or Koala, for that matter.

Ace watched the battle in amazed numbness as motherfuckin' Emporio Ivankov saved Luffy from Kizaru's attack, as Luffy ran past 'Black Cage' Hina, too fast for Ace to see, as Luffy fought Marine after Marine-

Oh, god. Moria. Moria was summoning zombies and - someone had cut his brother-

" _Luffy!"_ Ace yelled, his brother's name bursting from his mouth before he'd realized it.

He couldn't be here. Ace couldn't let his precious baby brother die here, fight here, be scarred or even killed here-

Ace _wasn't worth it,_ wasn't worth any of this, not Pops, not Marco, not the crew, not _any_ of these crews that had showed up at Whitebeard's command-

And above all, not Luffy, not the light of his life, not his ever-smiling little brother-

Ace had to make him go away. He _had_ to. Luffy couldn't die here. Luffy had to go on to be Pirate King, or at least try to be Pirate King - he had to leave…

"DON'T COME UP HERE, LUFFY!" Ace yelled. He gathered up all his strength and screamed at his brother. "YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER! YOU AND I ARE PIRATES! I HAVE MY OWN ADVENTURES! I HAVE MY OWN FRIENDS!"

Oh, god, this next part was gonna hurt…

"THERE'S NO PLACE FOR YOU IN MY LIFE!" Ace screamed, and that was a lie, a dirty, blatant lie, "YOU THINK I'D LET MYSELF BE RESCUED-" Ace took a brief, gulping breath, trying to restrain tears, and continued to lie through his teeth- "BY A WEAKLING LIKE YOU?! THAT WOULD BE AN UNBEARABLE INSULT!"

Ace drew in another breath and spat out the final words. " _BEAT IT, LUFFY!_ WHY DID YOU COME HERE?!"

'Please, Luffy,' Ace thought desperately, slumping forwards from the effort of shouting so loudly and restraining his tears. 'I don't want you to get killed for me! It's my own fault I'm here!'

God, if he'd just called someone…

And then Luffy replied. " _I'M YOUR LITTLE BROTHER!"_

Ace couldn't help the choked sound that escaped him at Luffy's yell. He flashed back to that moment ten years ago when he and Sabo and Luffy had exchanged saké cups to become brothers - and then to the moment when Luffy had declared Koala family, only a few months back…

Luffy's yell caused a flurry of shocked comments from the Marines - Jinbe drowned zombies - Sengoku got on a transponder snail and revealed Luffy's heritage…

For a moment, Ace was seized by a desire that was at once hopeless and giddy. 'Go on,' he wanted to say, 'Tell them about Sabo, too. Tell them about Koala. Tell everyone about the _rest_ of my family, you bastards.'

The urge to watch the world burn (that was the only thing Ace could properly describe the feeling as) faded quickly. Luffy was doing something he called 'Gear Three.' It seemed neat.

"I don't care," Garp grumbled next to him, "There's no point in hiding it anymore."

He said something else, but Ace wasn't listening.

"SAY WHATEVER YOU WANT!" Luffy screamed, "I'M GONNA SAVE YOU EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!"

Ace's heart shattered. He bowed his head. Something happened, deep inside his brain, and everything just went numb. Ace couldn't feel anything.

No, really. He actually couldn't feel anything. He cast about, trying to feel angry, sad, happy, _anything._

There was only a vague, blank sense that felt like nothing at all. Or at least nothing in particular.

'Luffy's going to die,' Ace thought.

Nothing.

'Sabo's still alive,' he offered.

 _Nothing._

'I have a sister,' he tried hesitantly.

A vague stirring of interest. Then back to nothing.

'Amazing,' Ace though blankly, 'I literally can not even.'

Looks like it was time to make a pithy speech about it, then.

* * *

Koala was going to scream.

They were finally, _finally_ at Marineford, after what felt like ages of listening to reports over the snail (Iva wasn't dead after all, and had at long last gotten around to breaking out of Impel Down: score for the Revolution!), and they were totally blocked by a wall of ice.

"Why didn't we take a coated ship?!" Sabo all but shrieked, burying his fingers in his hair so hard it looked like he was about to start ripping it out.

"Don't panic," Koala said, her voice sharp as razors and brittle as eggshells. "We'll figure something out. We _have_ to figure something out."

Sabo's voice faded into a distant chant of "Ace, Ace, Ace." His face was ashen.

"Perhaps we could swim?" Hack suggested doubtfully. The two humans shook their heads.

" _You_ could," Sabo said, a spark of hope in his voice, "One of us is better than none of us."

"Yeah, and maybe bring someone back to break the ice-?" Koala suggested. Or began to suggest, at least.

In one of the peculiar strokes of luck that seemed to happen to people closely associated with Luffy, the walls of ice shattered at exactly that moment.

Koala, Hack, and Sabo stared in slack-jawed amazement as ice crashed into the ocean around them.

Sabo was the first to recover. "Well, then," he said, adjusting his top hat smartly, "Let's go make our entrance."

* * *

 **Okay, yeah. I skipped a pretty big chunk of action between Ace and Koala at the end. Have I mentioned Marineford is Much Longer than anticipated?**

 **And now, review replies!**

 ***whistles* dang, there's a lot of you. Let's see...**

 **A general Thank You to Vanimelde Melindel, a Guest, overpricedsanity, R-daisy, Catlover4536 (and also :3c), AnyMoreBrightIdeasGenius, UnderTakerxXxMadnesS, and MeganRouth. You guys are great and I'm glad you're enjoying it!**

 **Now, more specific answers...**

 **Mei Evelyn: Thanks for your review! I literally had the manga open next to me as I wrote the dialogue. That's the other part of why this took so long to write; I had to get to the library and GET the manga to use as a reference. I'm glad you're enjoying this!**

 **Kneoria: The hype is real with this one**

 **BedofRoses1989: *finger guns and shades* it's gonna make u cry i guarantee it**

 **Bluejay Blaze: *finger guns* I dunno about that last bit either. Eh. All depends on perceptions, I s'ppose.**

 **mountainelements: Buddy this thing is gonna bury u up to your neck in angst for the first seven or eight chapters. I mean, I try to add humor, but Marineford is Very Angst and I don't exactly help. Just a warning; if it's not your cup of tea, that's fine!**

 **Coffee Fren: Thanks! As long as I know people are interested, I'm sure it'll go fairly quickly. Plus, now I've actually started.**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Revel in terror buddy. The True Angst doesn't start for like another five chapters.**

 **betsybugaboo: Suffering Time has begun, I hope you...enjoy isn't really the right word, is it? So I hope you find yourself glued to your seat!**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm a terrible person.**

 **YJV: Seriously, reviews Feed authors. I needed that. And you're welcome!**

 **So, I'll see you all soon! Don't forget to leave a review!**


	3. More Revolutionaries Arrive

**Welcome back to For Love of a Brother, everyone! Thank you to all my followers, favoriters, and reviewers; you're all great!**

 **Aaaand we're still in Marineford. The Revolutionaries are on the scene. Let's see how this goes.**

* * *

"AAAACEEE!"

The cry rang out across the battlefield. Some people looked to see the source. Some were killed when they looked.

Ace's head jerked up, life snapping into his eyes.

'Oh, look at that,' a part of his brain commented, 'my feelings are back.'

Luffy heard the call and smiled. The rest of his siblings had arrived. They would _definitely_ save Ace now!

Not that he couldn't've done it on his own. It would just go a little faster now.

Marco's gaze snapped to the approaching figures. It took him a heartbeat to identify the owner of the voice. Another to peg him and the girl beside him as the other siblings Ace had told him about. A smile flicked across Marco's face, just for a second. Then he turned back to Squard.

Garp nearly choked.

Those who looked saw this: A tall, tophatted blond man with a determined expression, a grin, and a burn scar on his face; a red-haired lady wearing a hat with goggles and the same determined expression as the man; and a long-haired Fishman sharing that same expression, all in a small skiff that seemed to reach land (or ice, really) impossibly quickly.

"They're coming _into_ the war?!" Someone cried out, shocked.

Someone else recognized the Revolutionary Chief of Staff. Recognition of the other two Revolutionaries was close behind, and the news spread like wildfire.

"SABO!" Ace yelled, "KOALA!" Oh, God (he didn't even believe in a God but here he was), nonono, not them too.

"Koala, Sabo!" Luffy echoed happily a moment later, punching someone in the face. "Oh, and Hack!"

Whitebeard paused. Turned. Grinned. Then turned back and began to advance.

Cries of "Pops is moving!" mixed with "The Revolutionaries are here!"

"Well, _more_ Revolutionaries are here-"

"There's only three of them-"

"One's Chief of Staff! _Chief of Staff!"_

"And I recognize the others, too-"

Sabo's voice rang above them all. He was doing, Luffy noticed, that weird not-quite-a-shout thing. "Sorry we're late, Ace! Traffic was murder!"

Ace was all out of dramatic speeches to make, and besides, if Luffy hadn't listened, then Sabo certainly wouldn't. He made the effort anyways. "SABO, YOU DUMBASS, _GO AWAY!"_

"Hm, let me think - no," Sabo responded, tone dry as the desert.

"You aren't going to get rid of your siblings that easily, Ace!" Koala added, storming onto the ice, "You should know that by now!"

A confused murmur of "siblings?!" ricocheted across the battle field. Attention was divided - unequally, but divided - between Whitebeard on the war path and the three new Revolutionaries.

(Largely unnoticed, Hack and Jinbe locked eyes and nodded at each other. Koala found his gaze and did the same a moment later.)

"Hack," Sabo said quietly, "Do we have a snail that can broadcast?"

Hack, still in the skiff, fished out a snail with an antenna on its back.

"Good. Film this. Broadcast it to Sabaody - and everywhere else we can reach."

(After a moment, the TVs on Sabaody island flickered back on. The crowd went wild.)

Sabo brought his voice up to a roaring shout. "GO AHEAD, SENGOKU! TELL THEM ALL ABOUT THE _REST_ OF ACE'S FAMILY!" Somehow, despite Whitebeard's continuing advancement, Sabo commanded the most presence on the battlefield.

(Across the Red Line, a journalist was shaking with excitement.)

"GOLD ROGER! DRAGON THE REVOLUTIONARY! DO YOU THINK PARENTAGE IS ALL THAT MAKES A MAN?!" Sabo yelled, "WELL, LET ME CORRECT YOU: MEN MAKE THEMSELVES! AND LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING ELSE: ACE AND LUFFY ARE, ABOVE ALL, _MY BROTHERS!"_ Sabo paused for a breath. "AND YOU'LL KILL ACE OVER MY COLD, DEAD BODY!"

"THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!" Sengoku snapped back.

"What am I?" Koala asked, feigning offense, "Chopped liver?"

"Ah - sorry, Koala…"

"Never mind. I'm sure I'll get my dramatic moment. Besides, _we_ all know we're siblings."

"Should I pass this off to someone?" Hack asked, looking amused as he motioned to the snail.

"Yes, probably…" Sabo paused, looking thoughtfully at the snail. Then he beamed widely and waved. "Look, Joe! I'm on TV! You owe me twenty beri!"

Hack let out a short laugh. "What was that?"

"An old bet. Come on, let's go save Ace."

Unfortunately, they got barely halfway to the plaza entrance before things started happening. _More_ things, anyways.

"There are walls coming up," Sabo noted. "Damn-! Luffy almost reached Ace that time!" A distant part of his mind wondered what the deal was with the multiple Kumas before remembering about the government experimentation shit. He supposed this was the result.

"There are cannon in those walls," Hack said, "They must be planning to shoot at us from afar-"

"FIREBALLS!" Koala yelled as magma fists began to rain from the sky.

"AKAINU!" Sabo yelled, "God _dammit,_ why'd we have to get here so late-?!"

"Hey! There's a way in!" Koala pointed to the body of a huge, _huge_ giant, whose weight held down a wall, preventing the completion of the circle.

"Then that's our way in!" Sabo reached back and gripped the pipe slung on his back.

He hadn't fought with a pipe for years, but he'd gone ahead and brought it anyways. It just felt _right._

"Where's Luffy?!" Koala asked. Sabo's head jerked to her.

"Wha-?"

"If _anyone_ can come up with a way to get to the platform in no time flat, it's Luffy!"

Sabo grinned. "You're right!" His gaze skipped over the battleground until he found Luffy - and his breath caught. "Oh, no - _LUFFY!"_

His little brother was lying bruised and bloody on the ground, and there was Jinbe and - hey, Iva-chan…

Koala gripped Sabo's arm. They locked gazes.

"Let's hurry," she said.

* * *

Ivankov had just completed the favor Straw Hat Boy had asked of him and wondering just how many shocks he could take in the space of a few hours (Straw-Boy's amazingly quick recovery, Straw-Boy's father, Ace-Boy's father, falling and almost crashing onto ice from miles in the air, the Kuma army, and now Sabo-boy - the child Iva had known for ten years! - turning out to be Straw Hat Boy's brother, too; honestly, Iva was fabulously resilient, but this was all a bit much), when Sabo, Hack, and Koala came running up to him.

"Sabo-boy!" the okama shrieked, "You and Straw Hat boy are brothers?! Vhy vas I not told of this?!"

"And Ace," Koala added, "And all three of them are _my_ brothers, too."

Ivankov's eyes bugged out. "SINCE VHEN?!"

"Few months ago. We would have told you, but I had amnesia and then you were in jail." Sabo shrugged. "Sorry."

Ivankov picked up on the subtle implication that Sabo did _not_ have amnesia anymore, but before he could say something about it, Inazuma emerged from Ivankov's afro.

"Sabo-san," he greeted smoothly, "Koala-san, Hack-san."

"It's good to see you, Inazuma-san," Hack greeted in return, "I'll be wanting to hear about your escape from Impel Down."

"Noted."

"Hey!" Koala said with a slight snap in her voice. She pointed at the platform. "However you got Luffy up there - can you get us up there, too?!"

"That would be my area of expertise." Jinbe stepped forwards. Sabo nodded, a steely glint in his eyes.

"I'll explain later, Iva-chan," he said, "Ace takes priority."

* * *

Ace didn't fully tune back into the world until Sabo and Koala crashed into the plaza less than a minute after Luffy, and at almost exactly the same time Pops made it into the plaza with another coated ship.

Ace was in shock. He was definitely in shock. His entire crew and all three of his siblings had fought, _were_ fighting, through hell to get to him.

To _him._ To the worthless scum child of Gold Roger. It was more than a little jarring, to say the least.

"ALL RIGHT, MEN!" Whitebeard roared, "WE'RE GOING TO SAVE ACE! AND DESTROY THE NAVY!"

Somehow, Koala managed to catch Ace's eye amid the chaos.

She fucking _winked_ at him.

Aokiji attacked Pops. Jozu smashed into Aokiji. Luffy was…oh, god, Luffy had been fighting so hard, he shouldn't still be moving. Ace's heart cried out for his baby brother.

Kizaru - Kizaru was aiming at Luffy-

At the last second, Sabo tackled Luffy out of the way and swung a Haki-coated pipe at Kizaru's head.

Ace had to run that through his brain one more time.

A haki-coated…

It was a…

Holy shit.

Despite himself, despite _everything,_ Ace laughed. It was a choked laugh, but a laugh all the same. Garp and Sengoku side-eyed him.

'A _pipe!_ Just like when we were kids!'

-But oh, shit.

Luffy.

 _Luffy._

There was blood all over him, and…

Sabo was holding him…

'Get Luffy _out_ of there, Sabo,' Ace thought desperately.

* * *

Luffy wanted to fight.

He wanted to save Ace.

Had to save Ace.

Iva's giant face yelling at him was only a distraction.

Sabo's arms around him were only a distraction.

But it was Sabo, and he was here, and alive…Koala was here too, and…they would save Ace, they could probably do it without him, but Luffy so desperately wanted to _help…_

"Luffy," Sabo said quietly, "You've done enough."

"Ace…" Luffy croaked.

"We'll save him. We'll take care of him. You've done so _much,_ Luffy…rest now. Let your older siblings finish the job."

Luffy remembered the key Hancock had given him. He managed to fish it out and pressed it into Sabo's hands. "Key…free Ace…"

"The key to Ace's shackles?" Sabo asked, his hand curling around the key. Luffy nodded.

"Hey…Sabo…promise?"

Sabo nodded. "I promise. We'll save him."

Luffy smiled and let his eyes drift closed. "Good…"

* * *

Sabo found Ivankov again, over the wall, and entrusted him with Luffy. Iva promised he'd get Sabo's little brother to safety. Wherever 'safety' was in here.

Whitebeard gave Luffy (and then Sabo) some sort of compliment. Sabo wasn't really listening.

His grip was white-knuckled around his pipe as he moved forwards.

Luffy, drifting in and out of consciousness, saw Gramps punch a fiery blue chicken. He laughed, and passed out again.

* * *

 **The angst has begun.**

 **This isn't even the worst of it. Not even _close_.**

 **Now, then, review replies...**

 **A general Thank You to Coffee Fren and YJV, I hope you liked the reactions!**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: *finger guns***

 **AvaTheDarkLord: choo choo**

 **Vanimelde Melindel: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Sorry, buddy. We're gonna have a bunch of them.**

 **BedofRoses1989: Thanks! And yes, canon divergence has Begun (and thanks for understanding and shit).**

 **Artista the Psyco Ink Mistress: Law shows up at the end of Marineford, same as in canon. He doesn't really play a big part until later. And that's when I shove him into a big ol' pile of Corazon feels.**

 **Mei Evelyn: Thanks you! Law's role is actually the same as it is in canon...at first. Luffy drags him into an adventure later.**

 **Kneoria: Feel ALL the feels**

 **ClearWolf: Ahhh, got'cha. Thank you!**


	4. Ace is Freed

**Thanks to everyone following, favoriting, and reviewing; we're on Marineford part 4, aka The Bit Where The Angst Starts.**

 **Marineford part 6 tho. That's the bit where Sabo does the stupid thing that's gonna wreck ur feels.**

 **Anyways:**

* * *

Ace was crying. Between everything else, Marco barely noticed it. But he saw it all the same.

And then he saw Pops clutch his chest in pain.

' _Oh, shit-!'_

Pops fell to his knees, hacking up blood. A worried cry rang from his children.

' _The thing I feared most is happening!'_

Whitebeard's age had finally caught up with him, at the worst moment. Marco abandoned the battle and rushed to his side. Or tried to.

That was a bad move. Kizaru shot him twice in the back as he was moving - _zap, zap,_ two bolts of intense pain.

Jozu got distracted, and Aokiji, for lack of a better word, iced him.

' _Jozu, no-! Dammit, you know I'll heal!'_

His nakama knew he would heal, but that didn't stop them from worrying, nor did it stop the pain.

Then Akainu punched Whitebeard in the chest, and Marco, in his mind, _roared_ with fury.

Out loud, he could only manage a grunt of pain as his blue and gold flames came to life and healed his wounds.

"Oh! Looks like I caught you off guard," Kizaru said.

' _Bastard-!'_

"But you sure regenerate a lot, 'Phoenix' Marco."

Someone snapped a cuff around Marco's wrist. Marco recognized the nausea and the draining feeling instantly.

" _Sea Prism stone!"_ He half-gasped, half-yelled.

Kizaru shot him again, and this time Marco didn't heal.

* * *

Luffy slipped back into consciousness in Iva-chan's arms. He recognized the afro. Luffy struggled to pull himself into a position where he could see the battlefield - he wanted to see how Ace was doing, and Sabo, and Koala, but mostly Ace.

"Vhat are you doing, Straw-Boy?!" Ivankov shrieked, "Lay down! Your brother - and sister - will kill me if you don't rest up!"

"See Ace," Luffy croaked. Ivankov turned and shifted his arms so Luffy could see. Luffy pulled himself up a bit to look.

A bunch of people were covering old man Whitebeard's back. Luffy couldn't see Sabo, or Koala, but Ace-

They were trying to execute Ace again-

 _The swords were coming down-!_

" **STOP!"** Luffy screamed.

A wave of pressure swept across the battlefield.

And Luffy, seeing Ace's would be executors drop their swords and fall to the ground, passed out again.

* * *

Sabo felt the wave of Haki, and he step faltered for a second, causing him to stumble. "That was-!" He began.

"Luffy!" Koala finished for him, "He has Conqueror's Haki!"

"Figures," Sabo grinned, "No wonder people are drawn to him!"

People were drawn indeed. Besides the prisoners from Impel Down, Luffy seemed to have managed to get the Warlord Boa Hancock on his side; she had helped protect them from a fake-Kuma (Pacifistas, were they called?), with a comment about "A sibling of dearest Luffy's is to be a sibling of mine!"

Koala was convinced the Warlord had a crush on Luffy, which in Sabo's mind was both impossible and patently ridiculous. But he supposed weirder things had happened.

(A ways away, Ivankov was shaking a still-unconscious Luffy, demanding an explanation.)

It took other people a moment to pinpoint Luffy as the source of the Conqueror's Haki, but the comments were spreading quickly.

(Up on the platform, Ace whispered, or at least said softly, "You too, Luffy?")

"Hey!" Koala yelled, "Someone's sending a squad of Marines at Luffy and Iva-chan!"

"Damn - Hack!" Sabo barked, "Go help them!"

"Yes, sir!" Hack barked back, reversing direction at once and dashing to help defend Luffy. A second later, Inazuma slid up behind Sabo and Koala, like a trade-off.

"MEN!" Whitebeard roared, "BACK UP SABO THE REVOLUTIONARY WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!"

"And Koala the Revolutionary," Koala hissed, loud enough for Sabo to hear.

"Back up Ace's brother?!" Someone asked.

"AND SISTER!" Koala roared, "DAMMIT, I'M PART OF THIS FAMILY, TOO!"

This caused another outbreak of shocked comments, and Sabo had to grin.

They ran, Whitebeard's forces leading the way. On some level, Sabo knew this was some sort of test, but honestly? He didn't care.

He was just here to save Ace.

* * *

Ace was still in shock. Part of his mind was making snarky comments (it was alternating between sounding like Marco as it normally did and sounding, for some reason, like Koala), another was noting things in an absent tone of voice (that bit sounded like Sabo, what?), and the optimistic bit that sounded like Luffy was cheering wildly.

The majority of his mind was still just blank with shock, trying to process what was happening. Sabo and Koala were almost here, the Whitebeards were covering them, and Pops himself was still advancing. And someone with _scissor hands_ had just cut some sort of bridge up to the platform, the top literally inches away from Ace's knees.

The part of Ace's brain that still sounded like _Ace_ yelped, 'What the shit-?!'

"Inazuma of the Revolutionary Army!" Someone yelled.

'He's with Sabo, then,' Ace realized, 'With Sabo and Koala…' who were running up the makeshift bridge now, shouting a quick thanks.

Someone shot - a grenade, Ace was pretty sure - at them. Vista cut it out of the air.

"KEEP GOING, YOU TWO!"

Kizaru made a move for them, and Pops cut him out of the way. The pirates were all cheering wildly. The Luffy-voice in Ace's mind joined them.

"GO, REVOLUTIONARIES!"

"FREE ACE!"

"ACE'S SIBLINGS!"

Sabo and Koala were breathing hard, beaming wide, more than halfway here-

Garp crashed down in front of them, and Ace's heart dropped.

"GRAMPS!" Sabo roared, "GET OUT OF OUR WAY!"

"I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE, SABO! I'M A VICE ADMIRAL IN THE NAVY!"

* * *

Garp's feelings were aching again.

He hadn't seen Sabo in so many years, and part of him was proud at how the boy had grown up - strong, clever, capable.

A criminal.

And then there was his newest grandchild - Koala, wasn't it? Garp had wanted to talk to her. To train her. To get to know her, in his own way. She looked like a fine young woman, as strong as any of his boys, and probably better at keeping them all in line.

Garp imagined, for a moment, another world, with all four of his grandchildren standing side-by-side in Marine uniforms, beaming; Garp stood behind them, a proud smile on his face.

If only.

Someone yelled out, "IT'S THE HERO, GARP!" and Garp was snapped violently back to the present.

"THE BRIDGE IS GOING TO FALL!"

"DO SOMETHING, YOU TWO!'

Garp pulled in a breath. "I'VE BEEN FIGHTING PIRATES SINCE LONG BEFORE EITHER OF YOU WERE BORN!" he bellowed, "IF YOU WANT TO PASS, YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME FIRST, REVOLUTIONARIES!"

He heard Ace, behind him, make a choked sound and cry out, "Old man!"

"THAT'S THE PATH ALL FOUR OF YOU HAVE CHOSEN!"

Memories of Ace and Sabo and Luffy as children flashed through Garp's head, intermixed with a longing to know his granddaughter.

"DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS, GARP!" Sabo yelled, fingers moving into a familiar position.

"DO IT OR ACE WILL DIE!" Garp yelled back.

" _PLEASE!"_ Sabo shouted, and Garp saw true pain in his face.

He steeled his heart to it.

"THERE WILL BE MANY THINGS IN LIFE THAT YOU WON'T WANT TO DO-"

" _DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?!"_ Sabo roared, his expression filling with rage, "I LEARNED THAT LESSON TEN YEARS AGO, AND TIME AND TIME AGAIN AFTER THAT! SAVE IT FOR SOMEONE WHO NEEDS IT!"

In that instant, Garp knew both of them were thinking, however briefly, of Luffy.

Garp gritted his teeth. " _Sabo! Koala! You're enemies of the state!"_ He drew his fist back.

Sabo's hand was already black with Haki. Koala, next to him, was preparing a kick.

Suddenly, Sabo switched tactics and yanked the pipe from his back. Garp's mind filled again with memories of the boys as children, the with to know Koala better.

He thought of Ace saying he didn't want to die.

Garp closed his eyes.

"GARP!" Sengoku yelled.

His punch missed, or they dodged it. Sabo's pipe swung into the side of Garp's head, and Koala's kick rammed into his ribs.

As Garp fell, he pictured that other world again, a world where he would never have to fight against his grandchildren.

It could have been great.

* * *

Koala and Sabo landed lightly on the execution platform, right next to Ace, both breathing hard. Sabo slung his pipe on his back again.

"Hi, Ace," Koala said, "I missed you. Next time we have a family reunion, let's have a reason that's _not_ 'one of us is about to be executed,' yeah?"

Sabo had pulled out a key and was crouching next to Ace. "Luffy got the key - no idea how - have to ask later." He jammed the key in the lock.

"Koala! Sabo!" Ace cried. He couldn't believe it - they were here! They'd _made_ it!

And that's when the three of them realized Sengoku was using his powers. Koala jumped, and Ace jerked - but Sabo barely spared a glance.

"HALT!" The suddenly giant, golden Fleet Admiral boomed, "DO YOU THINK I'D-"

Sabo had already turned the key. Ace's shackles fell open.

"-ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE?!"

Sabo yanked his hand back as a beam of light shot past it.

"Well," Koala quipped, "We seem to be doing a good job of it so far."

"I'LL EXECUTE YOU MYSELF!"

Sabo shoved Ace forwards off of the platform, and before he knew it all three of them were tumbling down, seconds before Sengoku's fist hit.

(The different voices in Ace's mind snapped back together into _Ace,_ and he knew he was suddenly out of shock - or maybe it had only been the seastone all along.)

There was an ear-shattering explosion.

* * *

 ***dusts hands off* Aaaaaand onto review replies.**

 **UnderTakerxXxMadnesS: *thumbs up* Thanks!**

 **YJV: ...'Trouble.' Yes. You could call it that. It would be a massive understatement, but you could call it that. Honey, you've got a big storm coming. The kind the wrecks your feels and stomps on them.**

 **Kneoria: I mean, to be fair, I'm pretty sure everyone in One Piece has a dramatic flair. And thank you!**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: The hype is real with this one, too. All aboard!**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Thanks for the heads-up! You have no idea how much I make that mistake, honestly. And I'm glad someone besides me is enjoying themself!**

 **SarakuHD: It's funny because I am freakin' _hilarious_. Really, it's not that much of an angst fic. I put it as that for one particular chapter (well, two particular chapters which follow each other)...which should be coming up *checks watch* a chapter or two after this. So like. Probably Wednesday. Prepare your comfort blanket. And thank you so so much for your compliments! I really appreciate them!**

 **ClearWolf: Thanks! *looks around shiftily* Would you believe I've been planning for this series to be a three parter since, oh, about Blitz Week?**

 **Coffee Fren: :D Thanks!**

 **BedofRoses1989: *bows* Thank you! And yeah, that was kinda a dick move, huh?**

 **pizzafan123: Ahhh thank you! Honestly, I'm kinda surprised no one else has thought of KASL. Like, the dynamic is all there if you just go down the siblinghood route for Koala and Sabo rather than the romantic route...*shrugs* Ah well, at least I know I'm unique. Glad you like my stories!**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: What is happening is Ace is getting rescued. Albeit with a bunch of roadblocks on the way.**

 **.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review!**


	5. There is Much Chaos

**Marineford Part 5. We're almost done here, thank goodness, and then maybe I can chill with the POV switches.** **The angst train seems to come with a lot of them.**

 **Thanks to all my followers, favoriters, and reviewers; enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Luffy, awake again, saw the explosion and panicked.

"Iva - Iva!" he cried, tugging frantically at the okama's necklace to grab his attention.

"VHAT?!"

"I need - I gotta help my brothers - and sister - please!" Luffy gasped, "I need…one last favor!"

There was a mighty cheering from the pirates, and if Luffy had taken a second look, he would have seen a tunnel of fire with Ace, Koala, and Sabo in the center. He heard the cries of "ACE!" but he'd never been any good at telling tone - he thought they were cries of pain, of sorrow…

Luffy wasn't exactly in the best state of mind, either.

"Please…Iva! I need another shot of energy hormone!"

"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Ivankov screeched, "IT VOULD KILL YOU! YOU'VE BEEN FIGHTING EVER SINCE YOU BROKE OUT OF IMPEL DOWN! YOU HAVEN'T EVEN FULLY RECOVERED FROM BEING POISONED! YOU'VE BEEN SLIPPING IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS THIS ENTIRE TIME! YOUR BODY CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

"I gotta…" Luffy began, but Ivankov yelled over him.

"IF YOU FORCE YOURSELF TO KEEP GOING, YOU'RE REALLY GOING TO DIE! AND IF THAT HAPPENS, NOT ONLY VOULD I NEVER BE ABLE TO FACE DRAGON AGAIN, YOUR SIBLINGS VOULD MURDER ME!"

"But…Ace…I gotta help…"

Ivankov let out one of his 'hee-haw' laughs and turned around, holding Luffy up. "Look, Straw Hat Boy! He's already free!"

* * *

There was joyous shouting from every pirate as Koala, Ace, and Sabo landed.

"Can you two still fight?!" Ace asked, half-yelling.

"Of course!" Koala responded, _actually_ yelling, "We're in better shape than you are, dumbass!"

Ace grinned at her, and then at Sabo. "It looks like you're covering my ass again, huh, Sabo?"

Sabo pulled out his pipe once more. "Well, Luffy did most of the work, really. Did you know he gave me that key?"

Ace laughed. "Now there's a twist!"

(Mr. 3 was about five yards away, curled up in a ball of wax after barely surviving Sengoku's punch. He told himself he'd find another way to avenge his fallen comrade.)

"BUT YOU'RE STILL SURROUNDED!" a Marine bellowed, "YOU'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

There was a spray of bullets which passed through Ace. Sabo coated his pipe in Haki and spun it in front of him like a baton, creating a sort of shield that deflected the bullets. Koala straight up _dodged._

Ace was pretty sure she either kicked or punched some bullets out of mid-air. Possibly both. He was duly impressed.

Two Marines with swords rushed at Koala while she still had her arms lifted and one leg brought up slightly from dodging/deflecting, and without thinking Ace jumped, placing one hand on her back and pushing her down. Koala went with the crouch, and both swords went right through Ace in swooshes of fire.

"She's my sister," Ace smirked, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't hurt her!"

(Behind them, a Marine who'd tried attacking Sabo had his face crushed in with a Dragon's Claw.)

Koala straightened, and Ace backflipped off of her, slamming his signature attack at the Marines with a loud cry of its name.

And off the three of them went, kicking ass like there was no tomorrow. Ace and Sabo had been a great team as kids, and Sabo and Koala must have worked together for years, but what surprised Ace was how well Koala's fighting style meshed with his own, and how easily the three of them fell into rapport with each other.

He had a vague, wishful thought for Luffy to be here too, but it was almost immediately forgotten as Aokiji came in to attack, and Ace countered the ice with his Mirror Flame.

* * *

Luffy was still trying to get Ivankov to give him another shot of energy hormone so he could fight alongside his siblings. Hack, who was still nearby, was trying to help Iva talk Luffy out of it. Neither of them were having much luck. Frankly, if it hadn't been for Hack's presence reminding Ivankov of the wrath he'd face if he let Straw Hat Boy have another hormone shot, the okama would have given in out of sheer frustration long ago.

However, even with Hack's constant, if unintentional, reminder, Iva's patience couldn't last forever, and at last he snapped.

"FINE!" Iva yelled, finally caving under the constant pleading and increasing desperation in Straw Boy's eyes and voice, "HAVE IT YOUR WAY!"

He shot his energy hormone, and without any ceremony, dumped Luffy onto the ground.

"Iva-san?!" Hack said, shocked, "What are you _doing?!"_

Luffy drew himself to his feet and _roared._

* * *

Pops had just given the order to retreat, to leave him to die (Ace couldn't - he just _couldn't-!)_ , when a roar echoed from clear across the battlefield.

Koala, Ace, and Sabo, as one, turned with wide eyes.

"That's-" Koala started.

"It can't be-" Ace gaped.

" _Luffy?!"_ Sabo gasped.

"He shouldn't be up!" Ace said, almost shrieking, "Did you _see_ him?!"

"Have you looked at yourself recently?" Koala muttered, then clamped a hand over her mouth like she hadn't meant to say that.

"Fair point," Ace conceded, "But he-!"

"IVANKOV!" Sabo roared over him, "EMPORIO IVANKOV, I AM GOING TO _MURDER_ YOU!"

(Ivankov shivered mid Wink, knowing he had sealed his fate.)

Whitebeard was destroying Marineford, and Ace was torn - so torn - did he pay attention to his captain, or his brother?

After five long seconds of internal struggle and silent agony, Luffy won.

Ace had to pay tribute to his captain first, though. He'd never be able to live with himself otherwise (he could barely live with himself anyways half the time, he couldn't make it worse). Ace blasted away the Marines near his captain.

"Ace-?!" Sabo started.

Ace fell to his hands and knees. "POPS!" he shouted, "THANK YOU! FOR EVERYTHING!" If he had been looking up, Ace would have seen Whitebeard open his mouth to speak. But Ace's eyes were screwed tightly shut, and his gaze would have been on the ground even if they were open. "BUT I HAVE TO GO LOOK AFTER MY LITTLE BROTHER!"

And with that, Ace scrambled to his feet and ran.

* * *

Sabo and Koala stood by Whitebeard a moment longer.

"Gurarara!" Whitebeard laughed, "That son of mine…he truly cares about his brothers!" He paused, and smiled at Koala. "Siblings, I should say."

" _Thank_ you," Koala muttered.

Whitebeard grinned. "You four brats will go far. Especially the one in the straw hat."

Sabo smiled. "Luffy's going to be the Pirate King," he stated, without a trace of doubt in his voice.

"Gurarara…time will tell. You brats had better scram."

Koala nodded and ran off. Sabo hesitated, then bowed to Whitebeard. "Thank you for being the father my brother never had."

Then he left, too.

Whitebeard, content, got on with bringing Marineford down to the bottom of the ocean.

* * *

"LUFFY!" Ace screamed at the flurry of rubber limbs that was his brother.

"ACE!" Luffy screamed back, but his yell was happy, not worried.

"THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, DUMBASS?!" Ace demanded, frying several Marines with a well placed Fire Fist, "WE'RE _LEAVING!"_

"Oh!" Luffy said, surprised, "We are?"

" _YES!"_

"LOOK OUT!" someone screamed, "IT'S AKAINU!"

"Shit shit shit - LUFFY! COME ON!" Ace yelled, shoving his brother forwards, towards the ocean where they could make their escape.

"So you abandon your leader in favor of your brother, eh?" Akainu called, "It seems you aren't as much of a 'happy family' as you all pretend you are. But that's no surprise! Whitebeard is a loser from a bygone era!"

Ace froze.

"Ace?" Luffy paused, too, hovering uncertainly a few feet in front of Ace. "I thought we were leaving?"

Ace was breathing hard. "A loser?" He already regretted having to leave his captain - he wouldn't let _this_ asshole slander Whitebeard's name!

Ace turned menacingly to Akainu. " _Take that back!"_ he demanded, " _Take back what you said!"_

* * *

"ACE, DON'T! KEEP RUNNING!"

Koala heard the yell and couldn't help but freeze. Sabo stumbled into her back, and she grabbed his arm.

"Koala, what-?"

"Ace," she said, her eyes wide and scared, "Where's Ace?" What was he doing that would cause that yell?

Sabo's gaze scanned the battlefield, then settled. He paled violently. "Oh, no…"

Koala followed his gaze and gasped involuntarily. "He's facing down Akainu?!"

"Oh, Ace, no no no…" Sabo's gaze snapped back to her. "He's not going to back down. We need to get him out of there. _Now."_

"But how-?!" Realization hit Koala like a shotgun blast.

Ever since they'd picked up on the Marine broadcast to execute Ace early, Koala had been having a nagging, itching feeling that she was forgetting something. Between stress and panic and fighting, she'd put it to the back of her mind.

Now she remembered. While packing supplies for the mission, she had come across the thing that had caused so much trouble and ended up giving her Ace and Luffy as family. She had put it in that strange spot behind her back where things seemed to vanish and mysteriously appear from, thinking it might be useful.

They could have been here so much faster. They could have freed Ace _as soon as they heard the news_ if she had thought of it. She was so stupid, stupid, _stupid-!_

She had to tell Sabo, _now._

"Sabo, the lamp," Koala said, almost gasping, "From before - I have Aeriasky's lamp!"

* * *

 **The Return Of The Genie. Woo. Also, Ace isn't dead. Did you really think he would be? Nah.**

 **Not yet, anyways.**

 **Review reply time!**

 **SarakuHD: HOORAY THEY'RE FINE AND THE STUPID THING IS _NEXT_ CHAPTER AND THEN YOU _REALLY_ WON'T BE OKAY**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: there goes Luffy, off into the fight, Sabo's going to murder Ivankov in his sleep for letting him**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Don't worry, Marco's fate is the same as in canon. He's fiiiiine.**

 **Kneoria: The world is gonna be poppin' the BIGGEST bottles when Ace gets out of Marineford (i'm sorry i'm horrible i had to make that joke). And ur welcome.**

 **pizzafan123: Not in person, no. There was a phone call made. I'll try and keep the one shot in mind, it sounds like a good idea! I'll probably forget, though, so add the request again like when the story's over or something and I'll see what I can do! And thanks!**

 **BedofRoses1989: Thank you! And yes, hopefully a few chapters after Marineford we'll settle back into Triple Switch's one-perspective-per-chapter style. Except possibly for particularly angsty future chapters.**

 **UnderTakerxXxMadnesS: Thank you!**

 **YJV: Ohhhhh yes. *finger guns and shades***

 **The angst train hits fully next chapter. Tie yourselves to the tracks and Prepare.**

 **Don't forget to leave a review!**


	6. Sabo Does a Stupid Thing

**...okay guys first off I hate to nitpick but tiny tiny little pet-peeve here: I've been calling them KASL, not ASLK. Either way works if you want to use the latter, of course! I just noticed it was in age order; Ace's birthday is before Sabo's, and obviously Luffy's the youngest; and placed Koala appropriately. They are all little brothers to her. She is a year older than Ace and Sabo.**

 **Anyways! Thanks to everyone following, favoriting, and reviewing, you're all great. Also, after this chapter we technically are FINALLY out of Marineford, which means updates will probably not be daily anymore. So heads up.**

 **And now**

 **The moment u've all been dreading**

 **THE ANGST TRAIN IS HERE**

 **GET OUT YOUR COMFORT BLANKETS AND PREPARE TO CRY, ALL YOUR FEELS ARE ABOUT TO BE _CRUSHED_**

 **...gosh, i really hope i'm not over-hyping this.**

* * *

Sabo's brain short-circuited. " _What?!"_

"The magic lamp, I-" Koala reached behind her back and brought it out. "I packed it before we left, and then I _forgot_ about it - shit, Sabo, I'm so sorry-"

Sabo hugged her. "Thank god!"

Koala blinked. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be - you know what, forget about it. Just summon them!" Sabo's gaze turned back to Ace. The blood ran out of his face again. "Oh, god - hurry!" Ace had gotten burned. _Ace_ had gotten _burned!_

Koala frantically rubbed the lamp. A cloud of smoke emerged and formed into the familiar wispy-tailed genie, who was stretching lazily.

"You lot again?" Aeriasky asked, looking at them with half-lidded eyes. "My my, you _do_ get into trouble."

Koala bristled. "Listen here, you - ugh, forget it! I need you to get us out of here!"

Aeriasky examined their fingernails. "Manners."

Koala almost growled. Sabo turned to check on Ace again.

And in the next few seconds, Sabo's entire world fell to pieces.

Koala's gaze was on Aeriasky, not Ace. She didn't see.

Didn't see Luffy stumble, pause, kneel.

Didn't see Akainu raise his magma-dripping fist.

Didn't see Ace move in front of Luffy as Sabo stood there, desperately wanting to run in and tackle Luffy, Ace, both of them, get them _out of the way-_

But Sabo's body had frozen in horror, and he couldn't move, couldn't get his limbs to cooperate even as his mind was screaming, and Koala wasn't _looking-_

Ace took the hit.

He fell to his knees with smoke curling from his back.

' _No.'_ Sabo's eyes grew wide with horror, and he still - couldn't - _move-!_ ' _Nonononononononono…'_

Not Ace. Please. Not his brother. No. Please…

A wild, desperate idea came to Sabo. He was dimly aware of Koala's voice beginning "I wish-"

And he replaced her wish with one of his own, a half-crazed, desperate plea that felt like it had been torn from Sabo's soul. " _I wish I was in Ace's place!"_

Koala's gaze snapped to him, her face twisting in shock. Aeriasky's eyes glazed over as they intoned, "Your wish is my command."

And Sabo's world exploded into _pain._

* * *

When the agony in Ace's torso abruptly vanished, Ace's first thought was 'oh shit, I died.' Then he realized he was still at Marineford, Koala was next to him and staring at him in horror and _that freaking genie_ was floating next to them.

"What just-" Ace began. And stopped short.

That was not his voice.

It was _Sabo's._

"Oh, no," Ace whispered, "Oh, god, no no no no NO!" His voice rose into a shout. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Sabo - Sabo wished to take your place!" Koala choked out.

Ace wanted to round on the genie, but was stopped by a realization - he had been _dying_ when Sabo made that wish. He had to - had to-

Ace spun on his heel, found his own blood covered body being held by Luffy, and sprinted faster than he ever had in his life.

* * *

Luffy stared at the man in his arms. It had been Ace a moment ago, but then he'd let out a fresh cry of pain and coughed up even more blood, but Ace hadn't even screamed the first time, and something - something was _wrong…_

"Ace…" Luffy said, voice trembling with tears (don't cry, don't cry, Ace doesn't like crybabies - _is_ it Ace?), "Ace, you can't die - you - you promised! You can't die!" _Please, please, please…_

The other let out a weak chuckle and tightened his grip around Luffy. "Ace won't die, Lu," he said softly, "don't worry. I'll make sure he doesn't."

Luffy's stomach dropped into his feet. He'd heard Ace speak like _that,_ with the strange accent like Sabo's, only when _Sabo_ had been Ace, and that meant-

"Sabo?" Luffy's voice trembled even more. Ace's face smiled.

"Yeah, Lu. It's just me."

No. No. This wasn't right. Not right. _Not right-!_

"You can't die again!" The words burst out of him. "I thought you were dead for ten years! You can't - can't - don't _leave_ us, Sabo, not again!" Luffy's voice broke. He sobbed and hugged Sabo like he could heal his brother just by wanting to - because that was always how it had worked before - if Luffy just wanted Sabo to get better hard enough, then surely, somehow, Ace's body would heal-

"SABO!"

Sabo's body - _Ace -_ ran and fell to his knees next to them, and a heartbeat later Koala was there too. Luffy vaguely noticed Genie-Guy floating behind them. That made sense, Genie-Guy had switched Luffy and Ace and Sabo in the first place, of course they'd switch Luffy's brothers now.

"Sabo, you _idiot,"_ Ace choked out, "Why would you - _for me-"_

Sabo smiled. "Ace, I-" he coughed, splattering blood. "I'm glad to die in your place, if it means saving you."

"Not like _this…"_ Ace said, his voice filled with something Luffy couldn't quite describe (was Ace going to _cry?_ No way, Ace didn't cry, not ever).

"Sabo," Koala began in a quiet, intensely emotional voice. She couldn't get the next words out.

"Koala, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please…" he coughed again. "Forgive me. I had to…had to save Ace. Give Dragon my regards when you get back…and my apology."

"You _dumbass,"_ Ace choked out, tears pooling in his eyes (Ace _was_ going to cry, Ace didn't cry, oh, god, this was so much worse than Luffy had thought, and it was already awful), "I'm not worth you-"

"Don't say that," Sabo said, only able to whisper now, but his voice intense and furious, "Don't _ever_ say that. You're worth it, Ace, _you deserve to live."_

"Not at the cost of your life!"

Sabo smiled. "It's a price I'm willing to pay." His voice grew fainter. "You guys…I'm sorry…for leaving you. I love you. I'll miss you." His arms tightened around Luffy one last time. Luffy was frozen, only able to try and choke out Sabo's name. He couldn't. "Thank you…for being my family."

Sabo was smiling. There was a moment. His eyes closed. His arms loosened around Luffy. And Luffy _knew,_ with horrible, awful certainty, that it was Ace's body in his arms. Only Ace's body. Nothing more.

And Luffy _screamed._

* * *

Luffy's heartrending screams ripped through the air, and Ace's wails tore through, mixing together in a horrible synchronization of grief and agony. Koala just went _numb._

Numb - except for a searing, all consuming rage which she turned on Aeriasky.

"BRING SABO BACK!" Koala screamed, "BRING HIM BACK RIGHT NOW!"

"You should've wished to heal him while he was still alive - not that it would've done much good, I suppose, that wound was beyond even my powers, Devil Fruit inflicted things often are-"

Something inside Koala snapped, and a wave of intense pressure swept over the battleground.

(Akainu, who had been moving to attack the other siblings, froze long enough for Hack and Jinbe to hit him with a blast of water that knocked him to the side, away from them. Marco, freed by Mr. 3's wax powers creating a key, swooped down on Akainu to attack.)

Koala didn't notice, focused entirely on the genie, who actually looked panicked now.

Good.

"Bring. Him. Back," Koala hissed, death in her voice, barely caring that she wasn't phrasing it right, wasn't using 'I wish,' " _Now."_

Aeriasky gulped. "I can't. Bringing someone back from the dead is beyond my powers. It's part of an ancient contract." Then their face brightened. "But there is a loophole!"

" _What."_

Aeriasky gulped again. "I can send you to the Afterworld to retrieve your brother's soul youself. And I can show you a way back from there. Once he's back in a Mortal plane, he can possess any vessel he likes."

"We can save Sabo?"

Koala didn't know how she'd managed to miss it, but Ace's wails and Luffy's screams had quieted as she was talking to Aeriasky. Luffy was the one who had spoken; he was staring at Aeriasky with an intensely focused gaze. She'd never seen Luffy so solemn, so intense.

(Neither had Ace, but she didn't know that.)

The genie nodded.

"Can you send us now?" Ace asked.

"About that. When I said your brother can possess a vessel in the Mortal plane…" Aeriasky flapped a hand at Ace's empty body. "You might want to get someone to patch that up if you ever want to get back in it. And find a place to keep it fresh." The genie smiled, turning slightly towards the sea. "Here comes someone who can do both of those now!"

And as if on cue (possibly it was), a yellow submarine erupted from the water, and in the next moment Koala spotted Trafalgar Law on the deck.

"GET STRAW HAT IN HERE!"

Ace gave the genie a glaring, suspicious look and opened his mouth to say something, but Aeriasky turned to Koala before he could start. "I would recommend you wish us on there now."

Law was still yelling, but Koala wasn't listening. She wanted to murder the stupid genie, but she wanted to _get Sabo back_ more, and this would help, she knew. "There. Is. No. _Us."_ Koala said in a clipped, scathing tone before she made her wish. "I wish Ace, Luffy, Sa-" She bit her lip. " _Ace's body_ and I were all on the deck of that - of Trafalgar Law's submarine."

She knew better than to be loose with her wording now.

Aeriasky snapped their fingers, and there they were. Koala didn't know why the genie hadn't gone back into the lamp this time, and at the moment, she didn't care.

The Surgeon of Death looked surprised, his jaw snapping shut abruptly. "That's…interesting."

"I know, right? I'm awesome." Aeriasky looked pleased, then schooled their expression into seriousness when Ace and Koala both glared at them.

"Explain later," Ace barked, "Escape now!"

"Should we wait for-" Law began, but no one was in the mood to hear it.

"NOW!" Ace and Koala roared together. Luffy just looked dazed.

Law repeated the order the escape, and they all hustled inside as the sub dove underwater.

Luffy collapsed less than a minute after that, and was quickly rushed to the med bay. Ace's body was placed on a cot at Koala's request. She would explain later.

She would explain once she knew that Luffy was stable and Law could be fully trusted (or at least trusted more than he was right now), when she wasn't ready to rip the genie from limb to limb and _enjoy_ it.

For now, she and Ace…

She and Ace…

They broke.

* * *

(They would not realize how the pirates had protected them in Sabo's final moments. They would not know about Blackbeard's appearance at Marineford. They would not witness Whitebeard's death. They would not see the final outcome of Marineford.

And they would never know that Aeriasky had hastened the speed of Law's submarine without ever being asked.)

* * *

 **Well, that was intense.**

 **Review Replies!**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: Sabo is very scary when he's angry. Also, PSA, the genie uses they pronouns. They're very particular about that. As well as the specific wording. Although that's not really a *desire*, more of 'the wisher left this open-ended so I can fuck it up by granting it like THIS' kinda thing. Chaotic Neutral. Anyways, thanks!**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Nah, don't worry, he's fine. There was a big BOOM in canon, too, after Sengoku punched the platform, so I was following that.**

 **SarakuHD: It's cool, about the typos! And as u can now see, Sabo does not fuck up a wish so badly it only takes the soul. Nope. He just fucking dies. all ur feels r belong to me and now they have all been smashed.**

 **BedofRoses1989: The Reoccuring Plot Twist has emerged. And there's Law! Say hello. I hope the feels met your expectations~**

 **YJV: Yes.**

 **LucaV: ! Thank you!**

 **AnyMoreBrightIdeasGenius: *finger guns and shades***


	7. Things are Explained, Sort of

**I did good angst.**

 **Anyways, this is the last of the chapters I had pre-written, or at least had a guide for. Updates from here on out will likely be much more sporadic. Just a warning.**

 **And now, the Angst Train continues.**

* * *

Trafalgar Law could hear Sabo (it wasn't Sabo, but he didn't know that) and Koala's sobs all the way in the operating room, although he tried to deafen himself to them. Years of skill and practice kept his hands steady and moving to fix Straw Hat, but he could not block out the sounds completely, and the sobs brought up old memories he wished he could forget.

The screams of Flevance as its people were murdered.

His own animalistic howls when Cora-san died.

Law tried not to focus on the memories. Somehow he managed to keep his cool exterior. He could not worry his crew. At least he had a patient to work on; he could throw himself into his work to keep his mind off of the sounds. Monkey D. Luffy was in critical condition, having pushed himself far beyond the point where a normal human would have broken and died. Of course, he wasn't normal - he bore the D, and besides that, he had that Devil Fruit which made him entirely rubber - skin, organs, bones, everything. Law found that very interesting.

He nearly made the mistake of wondering how the boy had gotten his Fruit, but Law knew all too well where that thought would lead him when his mind was already agitated with horrible memories. So he focused on the effects now.

He could still hear the cries of Koala and Sabo. Law wondered if there was any way he could soundproof his Rooms.

' _Shit-!'_

He should have known better than to think about anything to do with silence, even marginally, not while his mind was in this minefield-like state. Soundproofing connected to silence and silence connected to Cora-san's Devil Fruit and oh, god, _Cora-san-_

Law grip on his scalpel faltered, and the blade slipped out of his fingers and to the floor, the clatter going unheard for the sobs.

"Clean scalpel," Law said briskly, thrusting out a hand for the instrument. His teeth were clenched and he was breathing hard.

"Captain…?" Bepo said hesitantly, "We can ask our, uh, guests to be quiet…"

"Clean. Scalpel," Law repeated, and someone placed one in his hand. Bepo apologized, and Law brushed it off with an 'it's fine' as he went back to work.

He would not deprive his _guests_ of the right to mourn.

He understood that kind of pain far too well.

Just keep working, Law told himself, just _stop thinking_ and focus on the surgery.

And he tried; but he couldn't completely succeed.

* * *

Ace and Koala were well into their breakdown when Ace finally got out the words that had been running through his head since that awful, terrible moment when Sabo had ceased to be, leaving only an empty shell of Ace's body.

"It should have been me!" Ace howled, tears dripping down his (oh god, not his, _Sabo's)_ face.

Koala slammed her fist onto the table and stood suddenly. "You know what?! You're _right!_ It should have been!" She yelled, tears still in her eyes, running down her cheeks, her nose still dripping.

Ace was briefly taken aback, and then his darker thoughts rose to the surface. 'Yes. Blame me. Blame me like the demon I am. Hurt me, I deserve the pain.' Those voices always lurked in the corners of his mind, and until now, they hadn't sounded like anyone in particular.

Now they sounded like Akainu.

They had already been near screaming, and now they rose to a full roar, drowning out all the others.

And Koala continued. "It should have been _you_ in your body! But you know what else should have happened?!" Koala shoved her face into Ace's, into _Sabo's_ face, her eyes angry and determined and bright with tears. "We all should have gotten _out_ of there, _alive!_ Do you hear me?! We _all_ should have gotten out! All! _Four!_ Of! Us!" She jabbed a finger into Ace's chest with each word, her voice rising even louder. "That means _you,_ too, Ace! But guess what?! We _didn't!_ And now we've got a chance to _fucking fix it_ and bring Sabo _back,_ so we can't keep _moping_ around like - like - god, I don't know, like _emo assholes!_ We've got to _pull ourselves together_ and get our asses out of the damn self-pity corner, and if _you_ can't do that, I'll-" Koala paused briefly for breath. "I swear to god, I'll _slap_ you out of there!"

A low, impressed whistle came from the doorway. Trafalgar Law stood there, looking mildly interested and maybe even impressed. "That was one of the best pep talks I've ever heard," he admitted.

Ace stood quickly. "How's Luffy?" A stray voice rose up in his mind - 'It was your fault he got hurt' - but Ace batted it away. 'Piss off,' he thought at it, 'I'll deal with you later.'

"Stable," Law answered, "but unconscious. He may be in a coma for the next day or so while his body repairs itself, but I'm sure he'll wake before long. May I ask you two some questions?"

Ace and Koala exchanged looks from opposite sides of the table, then moved to stand next to each other - not coincidentally keeping the table between them and Law.

"Ask away," Ace said gruffly.

Law strode over to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat, folding his hands under his chin. Koala and Ace remained standing. There was a brief, silent stare-off.

"I was under the impression," Law finally began, looking at Ace, "That you were Sabo-ya."

Ace shook his head. "No. I…this is…" He pressed a hand to Sabo's chest. "This is his _body,_ but I'm Ace." His heart twisted at the thought that - if it wasn't for this mysterious loophole of Aeriasky's - he might have had to live out the rest of his life in his brother's body.

"Then Sabo-ya is dead." Law said it bluntly, factually. Condemningly. Before that blunt statement of fact, Ace might have been able to pretend that - _that moment_ had never happened. Hearing someone else say it so casually made it real.

Ace closed his eyes and shuddered, and he felt Koala shudder next to him at the same time. She was the one who whispered, "Yes."

"Yet you said you could bring him back."

Yes. They could bring him back. Ace opened his eyes. They could save Sabo. He had to keep remembering that. "You saw the genie, didn't you?"

Law's eyes widened. "Ah. You'll use a wish to bring him back to life?"

"We tried that," Koala said grimly, "It won't work. What we can do, apparently, is go get his soul ourselves and bring him back."

"And apparently we have more than three wishes," Ace muttered, thinking of how they had already used three wishes during the body swap debacle, "I gotta talk to the genie about that and figure out the limits."

There was a gleam in Law's eyes. "I would be happy to…assist with that." He tilted his head and frowned slightly. "But where are you going to _put_ Sabo-ya's soul?"

Ace grimaced in realization. Aeriasky had already said Sabo's soul would need a body…and made a suggestion, too. Ace exchanged a look with Koala, then turned back to the Surgeon of Death.

"Trafalgar Law," Koala said, still in that grim tone of voice, "We need to ask you for a favor."

Law smirked. "Ask away."

 **[AN: The end. No wait I'm kidding- I'M KIDDING DON'T KILL ME]**

"Can you repair…my body? So it will function normally?" It was weird, to talk about his own body, and Ace wasn't quite sure how to phrase the question anyways, but Law seemed to understand, and nodded.

"It will be an interesting challenge. I'll have to use organ transfers to repair the burned ones, and then there's the problem of preserving it until you return with Sabo-ya…I can probably get it on life support, restarting the heart will be the tricky part, but if I wait too long the brain cells will begin to die…" Law's eyes unfocused as he began mumbling about the possibilities. There was still a gleam in those eyes, one that gave Ace a creeping feeling he could really only describe as 'oh, shit, this can't end well.' It was a little like if they'd just handed Luffy enough candy to get him on a sugar high.

Speaking of Luffy… "Can we see our brother?" Ace asked. Law's eyes snapped back into focus without blinking. Weird.

Law stood. "Yes. I'll escort you there. Then I'm going to begin work on Fire Fist-ya's body." That damn gleam was back. Ace could really grow to hate that gleam.

"Great," Koala said, "Lead on."

* * *

Koala was not ashamed to admit she almost cried again when she saw Luffy. "He looks so small," she whispered to Ace. She'd known he was short, but his bright smile and loud voice had always made him seem bigger, and his presence always filled the room. Now, lying in a hospital-like cot, tubes coming out of his nose and mouth and (it looked like _everywhere),_ and hooked up to about ten different machines…he was quiet. Still. _Tiny._

"This is wrong," Ace muttered. Koala glanced at him. His (Sabo's) eyes were dilated, giving him a panicked look. "This is so wrong. Luffy shouldn't be - shouldn't be so…" he waved a hand around vaguely. "…Helpless," Ace finally settled on, sounding helpless himself. He reached out for one of the cords. Koala grabbed his wrist.

"And what were you going to do?" She asked sharply. Ace flinched. They both knew he'd been a heartbeat away from ripping the tubes off of his little brother's - _their_ little brother's - body.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "it's just, seeing Luffy like this…" They both looked down at the silent, softly breathing boy. Koala lifted her gaze and found Luffy's beloved straw hat resting innocently on a chair on the other side of the room. She crossed to it, picked it up, came back, and placed it gently next to Luffy.

"There," she said softly. There was another moment of solemn silence.

"I hate this," Ace muttered, clenching his fists, "I hate seeing him like this! I hate not being able to do anything, I _hate_ that Sabo did - did _this_ because of my stupid pride, I just-!" A choked sob escaped from his throat. Ace screwed his eyes shut. "Goddammit, Koala, I hate myself so much," he whispered.

Koala put a hand on his arm and leaned on him. She didn't think he was quite ready for a hug. "It's okay," she whispered back, "It's going to be okay. We're going to get him back." She reached for his hand and held it, squeezed it, trying to be comforting. Ace took a shaky breath. "Let's go find Aeriasky," Koala said, "I want to have _words_ with that genie."

Ace managed to grin lopsidedly, the same way Sabo did - used to - and Koala's heart ached with fresh pain. ' _Why this, Sabo? Why leave behind your body without your spirit, why leave us with the pain of seeing your face and knowing it's not you?'_ \- but then, Sabo hadn't thought of that, had he?

He'd just wanted Ace to live.

"Yeah," Ace was saying, "Let's go harass the genie."

* * *

Aeriasky had been pulling lamp duty for the last five thousand years.

And they had never, _ever_ been as terrified as they were right now, with two nearly-grown humans - barely more than children, even in human terms - glaring murderously at them. For some reason, they felt proud of the kids. Probably because it was a rare occurrence for Aeriasky to feel nervous, let alone terrified.

"All right, explain," Ace demanded, "Straight answers - how many wishes do we have?"

"Three," Aeriasky answered, "Per person." Duh.

Koala slapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh, of course. Counting by soul, not body?"

"Mm-hm!" Aeriasky nodded cheerfully. Damn. They were good at hiding their absolute terror. They should totally go into acting when they got out of lamp duty. Or maybe they'd just punched out the other side of terror, that was a possibility, too.

"Why do you go back into the lamp after some wishes, but not others?" Koala frowned.

Aeriasky shrugged. "Depends on if I feel like it and how much work I did." Strange. Weren't the children going to wish to save their brother? What was with the question and answer session? _Why was Aeriasky playing along?_

…Oh. Right. Because they were absolutely terrified. And also because there was some potential in these kids, and Aeriasky saw the opportunity for _fun._

"What was with the glazed-eye look when Sabo…" Koala hesitated. Ace looked confused. Aeriasky winced. The girl had put her finger on what they considered their greatest weakness.

"The more emotion in a wish, the more powerful it is, and the more I am compelled to grant it. Desperation, like love, is one of the most powerful human emotions. And _that_ was desperation born of love." They'd never stood a chance of even hesitating. "And, well, switching was the general theme when I saw you guys last, soooooo that's what I defaulted to." They'd had to grant it _right away_ and it was the first solution that popped into their mind. Aeriasky shrugged again, trying to play it off.

"Fine. Now. Business." The humans leaned forwards with determined, dangerous looks in their eyes. "You're going to explain to us _how to get Sabo back."_

Aeriasky gulped and began to talk.

* * *

 **And now it is time for Review Replies!**

 **AnyMoreBrightIdeasGenius: :3c**

 **SarakuHD: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Thanks for the compliments! It's good to know I'm doing it right!**

 **BedofRoses1989: I did leave a hint in the Triple Switch ending. Hope you enjoy the Afterworld...when they get there in a few chapters.**

 **Kneoria: Hooo, lots of questions here. In order: Four, not really, yes, and yes but much later.**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Don't worry. I got Things Planned. Why would I forget Luffy's hat? He's had it the whole time. Most of the time, at least. Also ikr.**

 **pizzafan123: Oh boy I did good. Go hang out with Sabo in the Afterworld until his siblings show up to drag his ass out. And thanks!**

 **Vanimelde Melindel: Thanks so much! And don't worry; I'm pretty inclined towards happy endings myself. Unless there's a sequel involved, apparently. *glances at the last three lines of Triple Switch***

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I seem to be using that emoticon a lot. And I did warn u. Ever since the story started. Glad to know I wasn't over-exaggerating.**

 **ClearWolf: First of all, thanks! Now then...I think most of your questions should have been answered in this chapter. Just to review, each person gets three wishes. People are counted by soul, not body, otherwise Sabo would have used up all three wishes, because it was always his body who made the wishes. You're correct, Sabo is on his second wish; Ace wished them back into their original bodies. Koala, Ace, and Luffy have each used one wish so far. They wouldn't really be able to repair Ace's body effectively, though; as Aeriasky said, the wound is beyond even their powers. They could have healed the outside, but the inside; organs and such; would still be burned and useless. Fortunately, Law is around! Not only can he keep the body preserved, he can fix it up. He's probably going to enjoy the challenge, honestly, I doubt he's had this much fun in ages. He's just gonna have to find bodies to loot for parts. Shouldn't be too hard. And don't worry about the length! I love answering these.**

 **YJV: God bless loopholes and magical genie assholes**


	8. Ace is Getting Real Sick of this Shit

**Sweet damn this is the longest chapter. And here I'd thought they'd be getting shorter. The Angst Train is good for something after all!**

 **Aaaaand we've settled back into single POV. Fuckin' finally. With lines to represent time skips.**

* * *

Hancock was the first person to visit after Marineford - she nearly gave Ace a heart attack when he saw the Marine ship she'd showed up in - but he didn't really talk to her, and Ivankov was the first person he had to have _The Conversation_ with.

It was maybe a half-hour after he and Koala had gotten the information they wanted out of Aeriasky. Ace emerged onto the submarine's deck just in time to see Ivankov leap onto it.

"Straw Hat Boy could barely stand back at Impel Down!" the okama was saying, "I'm amazed he vas able to wreak so much havoc, even before Sabo-boy and Koala-girl showed up-" Ivankov's eyes landed on Ace, and he paled. "A-ah…Sabo-boy. Do forgive me for allowing your brother to fight! He just vanted to save your _other_ brother so much, he vouldn't let it go!"

Ace's heart leapt into his throat. Of course. Ivankov thought he was Sabo. They would all think he was Sabo. He had Sabo's face, his voice, his body…

"But Ace died right before his eyes…" Ivankov continued.

"No."

Ace had to tell them. _Had_ to. He couldn't let them just…assume Sabo was alive, not when he was _gone,_ even if they _were_ going to get him back-

(He couldn't stand pretending to be Sabo to make them happy, couldn't pretend to be his own dead brother. He wouldn't.)

Ivankov blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I didn't…Ace didn't die." Ace swallowed hard. "There's this genie, and - it's kind of a long story, but - I'm Ace. I didn't die." He swallowed thickly once more. "Sabo did. He was in my body, and…" Ace trailed off and made eye contact. "I'm sorry."

For the first time ever, Emporio Ivankov seemed to be rendered speechless.

Ace couldn't make himself stay and see what Ivankov would say when he finally snapped out of it. He bowed, turned, and went back inside the ship to tell Koala one of the other Revolutionaries was here in case she wanted to talk.

Ivankov and the New Kamas left later that day. Hack and Jinbe were the next to show up.

Ace and Koala had decided to wait until Luffy woke up before they went to get Sabo; as much as they wanted to drag Sabo out, they had no idea how long it would take (Aeriasky had been frustratingly vague on that point, saying only it would depend on how long it took to find him; they were also unhelpfully vague on what the 'Afterworld' actually _looked_ like), and they didn't want to leave Luffy alone when he woke up, either. And since Law had, in the three days between Hancock's appearance and Hack and Jinbe's arrival, somehow managed to get Ace's body on life support, they didn't really have to worry about the time factor anymore, except in regards to Luffy.

It wasn't like Sabo was going anywhere, after all.

(Ace _did_ still wonder how Law had managed to gather the…parts…he needed so quickly. He had a sneaking suspicion Aeriasky had something to do with it.)

Koala and Ace were sitting in the galley, yet again going over the details of the SSS mission* (short for Save Sabo's Soul; Koala had coined the term about an hour after they'd gotten themselves a solid plan), which essentially boiled down to 'get in, find Sabo, take Sabo, get out, get him into Ace's body, switch back.'

The door opened, but they ignored it, assuming it was one of the Heart Pirates. It wasn't until they heard the voice that they looked up.

"Koala-san. Sabo-san."

Koala's head jerked up. Ace's breath hitched, his stomach knotted, and his heart gave a little stutter, as it always did when he was confronted with the reminder that he was in Sabo's body.

(He'd been avoiding mirrors since day one.)

Then Ace looked up to see Hack and Jinbe entering the room.

"Hack!" Koala cried, standing quickly, "Jinbe!" Her face was lit up - still heavy with sadness and pain, but not as heavy as before. She rushed towards the Fishmen and exchanged a hug with each. Ace sat, frozen to his seat.

He'd have to tell them again.

He'd have to give this same, quick, _painful_ explanation. Again.

(This was when he started to realize just _how many_ times he'd have to explain. This was the moment he dubbed it _The Conversation,_ capitalized and italicized.)

"Sabo-san," Hack was saying, stepping towards him, "I am so very sorry for the loss you and Koala-san have suffered."

Koala stiffened. Ace caught her eye, saw _her_ realize that they were going to have to tell them, have to explain that it was _Sabo_ who'd died.

"Ace was a close friend of mine," Jinbe added ('dammit, I _know,'_ Ace thought in a near snarl, ' _I'm_ Ace'), "I-"

"Save it," Ace said, his voice (Sabo's voice, dear god, he wanted to cry) flat despite the growing knot in his throat. "You've got it backwards."

There was a confused pause. Koala flinched slightly.

"I'm Ace. Sabo's the one who - Hack, you remember that one time, with the genie…? Sabo switched with me after…Akainu." Ace dropped his gaze and studied the patterns in the wood intently. "We're going to get him back," he added quietly, "The genie has a loophole. We're _going_ to get Sabo _back."_ He clenched his fists. They were going to get him back. He had to keep remembering that, telling himself that, or - he didn't know what he'd do. Snap, maybe.

There was a stunned silence as Hack and Jinbe digested Ace's words. Ace squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the shoe to drop - but Koala was the one who spoke first.

"Hey, Ace," she said, "I'm gonna go talk to Hack and Jinbe outside. Are you going to be alright on your own?"

Ace had gotten clingy while waiting for Luffy to wake up. Koala knew that better than anyone. If they were together, if they were _talking,_ the voices would shut up, the nightmares wouldn't be as bad. Hell, _anyone_ would do - Bepo especially made a nice pillow - but Koala was special. She was always there.

And she was his sister.

Ace nodded silently. Koala herded Hack and Jinbe out of the room.

'…You might have to get used to it, you know,' the Sabo-voice in his mind pointed out, sounding concerned.

'Having the conversation or being in his body?'

'Either. Both.'

'There's no might about it,' another voice cut in, sure and surgical. Law's voice. It had taken on the role of stating cold, blunt facts that Ace didn't really want to hear, replacing Marco's voice, which seemed to be regulated to making sarcastic comments and being protective of people close to Ace.

'We _will_ have to get used to being in Sabo's body,' the Law-voice continued, 'Otherwise we won't be able to fight if it comes to that, which it almost certainly will.'

' _The Conversation,_ though…Koala could probably do it,' Sabo's voice added helpfully. Ace crossed his arms on the table and put his head in them.

'…We?' he thought after a moment. His own mental voice didn't even sound much like him anymore. Ace wasn't sure if it ever had in the first place.

There was a very Thatch-like laugh. 'Course it's _we._ You know we're part of you, don'cha?' Thatch's voice was playful, teasing.

'We're a collective!' The Luffy-voice shouted from the background of his mind. Ace had to at least snort.

The voices were a part of him; they always had been, and always would be, from the mish-mash of hundreds of different people who, when Ace had asked "what if Roger had a child?" had answered that he was a 'demon,' 'worthless,' that he didn't deserve to live, to the voices of his brothers pointing out observations, opportunities, bright sides, to Marco's sarcasm and protectiveness, Thatch's playfulness and caring, Izo's dignity and style, Koala's easiness and her fight, to so, so many others.

Akainu's scathing insults, balanced against Whitebeard's loving acceptance.

None of the voices had ever been so distinct until Impel Down. With no one to talk to, nothing to really focus on, they seemed to gain another level of… _presence._ That was when Ace had begin to pin them down to traits - he had Luffy as Optimism, Sabo as Observation, Strategy, Tactics, Marco pulling double-duty and Protectiveness and Logic (the latter of which now had Law's voice) and sharing Snark with Koala. Ace had assigned Koala's main trait as 'Fight Me' until he got around to finding something more accurate.

He'd never gotten around to it. Jinbe had been thrown in with him, and Ace had been _relieved._ By that time, the voices had been so strong and distinct that Ace could have entire conversations with himself without his own voice ever coming into play, and sometimes, when Ace opened his mouth to talk, he expected Marco's cool tones or Izo's steady but furious voice to come out. Ace tried to talk to Jinbe as much as possible. The voices snapped back together into _him_ when they - when _he,_ Ace - was focused on someone else.

Ever since Marineford, when Ace was left alone with his own thoughts for too long, he broke up into the voices again.

'Hey.' Thatch-voice again. A little concerned. 'You're spending a lot of time thinking back on Impel Down. Maybe we should go for a walk or something.'

'We could go see Luffy,' Sabo-voice suggested.

'Stupid idea,' Law voice said instantly, 'It'd just feed _him.'_

Ace could _feel_ the voices doing a mental side-eye at the shadowy parts of his mind, now inhabited - at least partially - by Akainu.

"Just go away," Ace muttered out loud, wincing as Sabo's voice came out of his mouth, "All of you, go away. You're not even actually here, you're not even _real."_

Izo's voice sighed. Ace hadn't heard from Izo-voice since Boa Hancock had visited them - _him dammit! -_ in Impel Down. 'Oh, Ace,' he said, 'We're _you.'_

Ace kept his head buried in his arms (no, no, Sabo's head, Sabo's arms) and finally began to cry. _Again._

* * *

Five days since Marineford, and Luffy still hadn't woken up. Law, when pressed, admitted that he had probably underestimated Luffy's waking time. By a lot, evidently.

"He's healing quickly, but it will be weeks until he's fully recovered, no matter when he actually wakes. On top of this, there's the mental trauma from having…from Marineford," Law corrected himself. Ace appreciated that the man at least had the decency not to bring up Sabo's death, even if the surgeon _did_ creep him the hell out. Law glanced upwards. "It's also possible I have been…distracted by…other projects."

Ace assumed Law meant his body, until Koala snorted and spoke up. "You've been trying to get at Aeriasky, haven't you?"

Law shrugged. "They're interesting."

Ace blinked. "Wait, what?"

Koala looked at him, tilting her head. "Didn't you…? Oh, right, you've been avoiding Law and the lamp, haven't you?"

Ace shifted and shrugged a shoulder. He hadn't meant to, he really hadn't, but whenever he saw Law he kept thinking about Luffy's still body and _that damn gleam_ and his own empty body, hooked up to all the same weird machines as Luffy, but just… _void_ of anyone. And Aeriasky, with the stupid wish that had gotten them into this-

It was easier to find himself an empty place to 'train,' to get used to the feeling of how Sabo's body moved and fought. He _hated_ having to get used to it, but Logic said that he _would_ have to fight in it at least once, and Logic was, well, Logic. That he sounded like Law didn't help Ace's distaste for the surgeon (although it was really the other way around, his distaste had put Law's voice in charge of uncomfortable facts).

"Law tried to use his Devil Fruit powers on Aeriasky, I think," Koala was explaining, "Because they seem to have gone into hiding. They're avoiding him at all costs. And I do mean _all._ They teleported him into the ocean once."

Law looked annoyed. Ace vaguely remembered that, or at least remembered that he'd been on deck and there was a lot of yelling and someone had fished Law out of the ocean. "Y'know," Ace said to Law, "You _could_ probably use a wish to figure out whatever it is you want to know."

Law looked at him blankly. "But then it wouldn't be any fun."

"…You two are just the same, you know that?" Ace shook his head. "Whatever."

Penguin poked his head into the room. "Captain? Marco the Phoenix is here. He…he's asking for Ace's body."

Ace's heart froze in his chest. Koala stiffened and grabbed his arm. Law's gaze swept over them.

"I can talk to him for you," the surgeon offered quietly.

"No," Koala said, still with a death grip on Ace's arm, "It should come from us."

"I'll do it," Ace said. His mouth was dry. He tried to swallow. Someone in his head - Haruta's voice, maybe? - was yelling at him not to be stupid, let Koala do it, you're just going to hurt yourself again-

'I deserve that, don't I?' Ace thought with the darkness of his mind's shadows, 'I deserve to hurt for this.'

'How does that make sense?' Law's voice demanded, 'It was his own choice-!'

'Hush.' Whitebeard's deep, compassionate rumble. 'Let him feel this. Let him have this. He will move on to brighter thoughts, given time.'

'Thanks, Pops,' Ace thought in the voice that was sounding less and less like his own. He gently removed Koala's arm, then walked towards the door. "I'll talk to Marco. Penguin, lead the way."

"Hey, I can come with you…" Koala offered.

"No, it's okay. I…I'll be fine." Ace managed a smile.

"…Okay, Ace."

Ace almost backed out of it when he saw Marco's grim, solemn face.

"Sabo," the phoenix greeted with a nod, and there was the clenching in Ace's chest (Sabo's chest) again.

"No," Ace said. It wouldn't do any good to let him believe a lie. He was going to tell Marco right away, because they _needed_ to keep Ace's body, _needed_ somewhere for Sabo to go when they got him back (and as time went on, it felt like they'd never get him back, it got harder and harder to hold on to that hope).

Marco blinked, his brow furrowing in confusion. "No?"

"I'm Ace." Marco's eyes widened as Ace spoke, his voice coming out faster as he went on. "Do you remember, a few months ago, when I got myself into Luffy's body? Sabo - he switched with me at the-" Ace swallowed hard. "After Akainu."

There was silence. Marco's eyes were fully opened. A rare event. Ace felt, dimly, a twinge of pride at the reaction, but he quickly crushed that, feeling horrible about it.

"Oh," Marco said finally, quietly, his eyes dropping back into their half-lidded gaze, "Ace, I'm sorry for your loss, yoi."

"We're going to get him back," Ace said firmly, willing himself to believe it as he clenched his fists at his sides, "There's a way - a loophole. We can get Sabo back, Koala and I, and we're _going_ to."

Marco gave him a long, silent look. Ace met it evenly. His fists were shaking.

At least the voices weren't showing up.

Finally, Marco nodded. "Good luck, then. I'm glad you're alive, Ace. We recovered your things, yoi. Your hat, your beads, your knife…"

"Penguin said you were here for my body," Ace said softly, connecting the dots, "You came to bury me."

"Right next to Pops, yoi," Marco agreed, just as quietly. Ace's heart clenched. They'd been planning on burying him next to his captain. His father. Ace had never dreamed of such an honor. "But now…" Marco continued, "Would you rather have your things back?"

'Of course we would!' yelled the Luffy-voice in his head instinctively.

'It will differ us from Sabo once we find him,' Law-voice added.

'Plus, we just really, _really_ like those,' Thatch-voice chimed in.

'Go away!' Ace yelled at them mentally, 'You shouldn't be here!'

They vanished, leaving behind an air of offense and sulking. They'd be back before long.

"I…yes please," Ace said out loud, his _(Sabo's)_ voice trembling. "And Marco…?"

Marco tilted his head. "Yes?"

"Thank you." 'For loving me,' he added in his own voice, but silently.

Marco smiled sadly. "Of course, yoi. I'll…explain to the others. Unless you want to explain to them yourself, yoi?"

Oh, _hell_ no. Ace wasn't having _The Conversation_ any more than he had to. He shook his head. "I'd rather not. But thank you, Marco," he repeated.

Less than an hour after that, Luffy finally woke up.

* * *

 **Man, I'm getting good at cliffhangers.**

 ***Thanks to Nao What for the name. That is a great name and I'm stealing it.**

 **Review Reply time!**

 **Law-related comments yelling about him showing up...thanks you for reviewing to AvaTheDarkLord, The Utterly Fabulous Z,** **lthamvongkham, YJV, and Dhea30! And a general thanks to ClearWolf and AnyMoreBrightIdeasGenius!**

 **Coffee Fren: We are going to be up to our necks in dead people in another chapter or two. I'm glad you like Aeriasky! And as for Law...weeeell, I'll just leave you to wonder.**

 **BedofRoses1989: Thank you! So much! Ahhhh I'm glad you liked it! And as to the second paragraph in your review, yeah, that was basically the plan. Sort of. Part of it. You're half right.**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Well, if you're worrying, I'm writing it well. Here's hoping!**

 **SarakuHD: Let's see, in paragraph order...damn straight; semi-answered in this chapter; :3c; (I mean, they could, except they didn't. Although, hell if _you_ wanna write the time-travel solution, fire away. Full endorsement to use Aeriasky as a plot device and have it take place in the Triple Switch timeline, just credit me for ideas, any writing you use, and for Aeriasky, and send me a link when you post it, because I'd _love_ to read that, honestly.); I'll take it anyways! Thank you!; and yes. Definitely. But little to no use of genies in part three, just Dressrosa and Devil Fruits.**

 **Nao What: _You,_ my friend, win Gold Star for Best Reviewer. Fate knew what it was doing, apparently. Like the summary says, the first part is Triple Switch, so go check it out if you want to (and frankly, feel free to leave a fuckton of reviews _there_ , too.) I'm stealing that acronym b/c it is just. Perfect. I'll do my best with fluff in between! Now, for your other reviews...uh. Yeah, I don't think I can cover them all without getting out of hand. I'll just note that I agree with you about chapter 4 after looking it over, but I was really kinda rushing to just get Marineford _over_ with, y'know? I skimmed a lot of shit. And thank you thank you thank you for all your nice comments and compliments!**

 **Catlover4536: Riddle me this: if I'm a genderfluid asshole, where do you punch me when I kill off your favorite characters? But seriously, I'm glad you're liking this, thanks for sticking with me!**


	9. Luffy More or Less Befriends the Genie

**Hot diggity damn the chapters are only getting longer. Here's hoping I can keep up that length.**

 **(Hint: Reviews help because they give me inspiration and ideas)**

 **Thanks to everyone following, favoriting, and reviewing; enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

When Luffy woke up, his first thought was of Sabo.

He then thought of Ace, wondered about his hat until he found said object next to him, wandered off to how Koala was doing, went back to Ace and hung around him some more, and briefly noted the tubes coming out of him and the machines around him before rounding back to think of Sabo.

Everything suddenly snapped into high gear.

"SABO!" Luffy shrieked, bolting upright. The machines beeped wildly. Luffy yanked the tubes out of his nose and was reaching for one in his arm when there was a loud cry of "ROOM!" and everything went all blue-tinted, and then Luffy's hands were suddenly no longer attached to his arms.

"Wha - huh?!" Luffy cried out in confusion. There was a tall, tan-skinned guy with an annoyed expression holding Luffy's disembodied hands with one of his own, a sword in the other hand. The sword looked cool. The guy had a neat hat too, all fluffy and spotted, Luffy wanted to touch it and see if it was as soft as it looked. Oh, and he had sweet tattoos and spots on his pants, neat - hey, didn't Luffy know this guy? Yeah, the guy was at the auction house, he'd seemed pretty cool. Luffy couldn't remember his name, though.

The guy was opening his mouth to speak when Koala burst into the room, quickly followed by - it _looked_ like Sabo, but it - he couldn't - Sabo-

Luffy's memories caught up, and he locked eyes with Sabo's body. "Ace?"

The other nodded. Luffy crumpled, falling back onto the bed. Ace was alive but Sabo was dead and Ace was Sabo and that was _wrong-_

"What the hell you you think you're doing?!" Koala was yelling at - damn, what _was_ the guy's name? Whatever, Luffy was calling him spots-guy for now. Luffy wasn't sure why Koala was yelling, though. Oh, maybe because Luffy's hands weren't connected to his arms?

"Preventing Straw Hat-ya from being a moron," spots-guy said bluntly.

"Well, put his hands back!" Koala demanded.

"Is he going to be a moron?" Spots-guy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just put them back, Law," Ace said - _Law,_ that was his name, sort of a boring name though, and laws made Luffy think of Marines, he didn't like it - "We'll keep him from being a moron."

Law (Luffy was totally giving him a nickname, Law was a stupid name for a pirate, maybe he could do better than just spots-guy though) grumbled something under his breath and Luffy's hands were back on his body, and then the world wasn't blue anymore. Luffy quickly grabbed his hat and jammed it on his head.

"Luffy," Ace said patiently, "Don't be a moron."

"Wasn't gonna," Luffy replied, sticking his tongue out. Ace grinned, but he looked like _Sabo -_ "What're we gonna do about getting Sabo back?" Luffy was ten thousand percent positive someone had mentioned they could get Sabo back, that was really why Luffy wasn't off screaming out his pain-

Nope, not going there, bad thoughts are bad, _do not think about Sabo being dead, do not think of Ace's blood on your hands and his dead body in your arms while_ _Ace_ _was screaming next to you, don't think of Akainu nearly getting you, too-_

 _You said DON'T THINK_ -

"We're going to go soon," Ace answered, and then exchanged a look with Koala. "Today."

Luffy hoped Ace hadn't noticed how Luffy had shaken violently for a moment, just a moment.

"Law will look after you and make sure you heal up while we're…you know, away," Koala added.

Luffy blinked. That didn't make sense. "But I'm going with you." Was Law (still a dumb pirate name, maybe Spotty would work?) coming with them or something?

"Nnnnnoooooo, you're not," Ace said, pointing at Luffy, "You need to heal."

"I don't!" Luffy protested.

"You do."

"I _don't-"_ Luffy said again, moving to get up and tackle Ace. Law (ugh, Luffy _needed_ a good nickname for him, he was just going with Spotty unless he got something better) was there suddenly, placing a firm hand on his chest and pushing him back and down against the bed.

"You do," Spotty said firmly, "And don't you go pulling your stitches, Straw Hat-ya. You need at least two weeks to properly heal. Possibly three. You are _staying."_ He shot a glare at Ace. "Fire Fist-ya, stop aggravating my patient."

" _Excuse_ me?" Ace asked, looking angry (that looked kinda weird with Sabo's face), "He's my brother!"

"He's still _my_ patient-"

"You don't get to-"

"Hey," Luffy interrupted, "Spotty guy. What's your name?" He hoped it wasn't just 'Law,' like how Sabo and Nami and Usopp and Koala were just Sabo and Nami and Usopp and Koala - it worked fine for _them,_ but Law was a stupid name. For a pirate, anyways. Maybe it would work for a Marine?

…Spotty was totally cooler than a Marine, though.

"Trafalgar Law," the man answered shortly.

Aw, man, Trafal-whatsit was just as bad as 'Law!' But at least Luffy could actually make it into something maybe-kay. Let's see here, Trafal-guy, Trafal, Traffic, Traffy - _ooh!_ Luffy liked that one!

"Nice to meet you, Traffy!" Luffy said brightly. Traffy looked dumbfounded, Ace exploded into laughter, and Koala covered her mouth with a hand, but her eyes were smiling and her shoulders were shaking so Luffy was pretty sure she was laughing, too.

"…It's Trafalgar," Traffy finally said.

"Nope, that's boring," Luffy told him brightly, "And also long and hard."

"Traffy," Ace wheezed, "That's _great."_

"I know, right?" Luffy beamed.

" _Anyways,"_ Traffy huffed, "Straw Hat-ya, you are staying. Here." He put pressure on the last two words.

"But I wanna go rescue Sabo!" Luffy protested.

" _No,"_ Traffy, Koala, and Ace chorused.

"Tell you what, Luffy," Koala offered, "If we're not back by the time you're fully healed, you can come after us, okay?"

"Oh," Luffy said, thinking that over. So…Traffy said he'd be all better in like three weeks. But that was _soooo_ long! Ace and Koala would totally have gotten Sabo back by then! Luffy couldn't wait that long! Maybe Luffy could ask Genie-Guy to make him all better. Hey, yeah, he could _totally_ ask Genie-Guy to make him all better and then go help save Sabo! Maybe wait a bit after Ace and Koala left so they didn't get mad at him, though. "Okay!"

Ace and Koala loosened slightly, letting out quiet sighs of relief.

"We'll go get Aeriasky, then," Koala said, "You can watch when we make the wish."

"Unless your _patient_ can't leave the bed?" Ace asked Traffy, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Straw Hat-ya should be fine as long as he takes it slow. Do stop being so prickly, Fire Fist-ya."

('Fight him,' the Koala-voice in Ace's mind said.)

Ace's eye and hands twitched. He took a deep breath. "Come on, Luffy," Ace said, "Let's go genie-hunting."

Luffy threw his arms in the air excitedly. "Yay!"

The lamp was sitting on top of the wardrobe in Koala's room. It was a _tall_ wardrobe too. Like, Koala had to climb onto Ace's shoulders to reach it tall.

"How'd you get the lamp up there?" Luffy asked curiously.

"I didn't," Koala answered, "Aeriasky teleported it and themself up here, I think. They've been sulking. Well, part sulking, part hiding."

"I _wondered_ where they were," Traffy muttered to himself. Since Luffy was standing next to him, he picked up on the mutter. Ace opened the wardrobe, brought out his red bead necklace and put it on, then grabbed his trademark orange hat, beads and badges and all, and placed it on his head, and finally pulled out his knife in its sheath.

Luffy opened his mouth to ask why Aeri-whatsis (man, Genie-Guy's real name was almost as bad as Traffy's) was sulking or hiding or whatever, but Ace spoke first.

"We'd better wish on deck," he said, tying his knife to his belt (Sabo's body looked kinda funny with Ace's hat and beads and without his napkin, but he looked more like _Ace_ and that was wrong and right at the same time, _man_ this was confusing it _sucked)_ , "Don't wanna risk the portal being too big or whatever."

"Shouldn't we wish on _land,_ then, to be safe?" Koala asked.

"Yeah, well, maybe, but, you know…" Ace jerked his head at Luffy. Koala made a quiet 'ahhh' sound.

So the four of them went onto the deck and Koala rubbed the lamp, and there was the smoke, and here was Genie-Guy!

"Yes, yes, what is it _now -_ oh, not _him_ again!" The genie looked at Traffy with an expression that was like - there was a _word_ for it, Luffy know, but _what?_

"You look so _scandalized,"_ Ace snickered.

 _That_ was it!

Traffy just gave the genie a slow, bored look, like a tiger's gaze.

"That's because the man is an asshole," Genie-Guy complained.

"Well, so are you, so it all works out," Koala said with an innocent smile. It made perfect sense to Luffy. Traffy looked annoyed, but didn't say anything.

"Luffy," Ace said. Luffy looked at him, and Ace grinned, pushing his hat up slightly. "We'll be back soon, okay?"

Luffy couldn't help himself. He ran forwards and hugged Ace. "Don't die," Luffy said quietly.

Ace smiled, a softer smile, not like the grin before (it made Sabo's face look more like _Sabo,_ had Luffy mentioned this was confusing and it sucked?). "I promised, didn't I?"

Luffy wanted to shout that Ace almost had, but he _hadn't_ broken it, so it didn't matter, even though Luffy's throat was getting tight and his eyes were burning when he didn't want them to. "Make Sabo promise, too, when he comes back. No more dying. Fight someone cool for me, okay? I wanna hear about your adventures!"

Ace laughed and ruffled Luffy's hair. "Course, Lu."

Luffy beamed, moved to Koala, and gave her a hug, too. "You can't die either," he told her, "An' I wanna hear about adventures from you, too."

Koala grinned and hugged him back. "You got it, little brother. I'll see if I can't kick someone in the face for you."

Luffy beamed again, a full, toothy grin. Reluctantly, he let go and moved back to stand next to Traffy.

"Touching," Genie-Guy drawled. Ace and Koala shot a double glare at them, and they squeaked and curled in on themself a little.

Ace took a deep breath. "Okay. Koala, you wanna do the honors, or?"

"I got this, don't worry," Koala said, locking eyes with Genie-Guy and cocking an eyebrow. Genie-Guy scowled and curled in a little more. "I wish we were in the Afterworld, and that the portal we make there stays open until we bring Sabo's soul - _as well as our own -_ through it."

Genie-Guy huffed, still curled. "Condensing two wishes into one should be considered cheating."

"But it's not, apparently," Traffy muttered as Ace and Koala shot Genie-Guy another double glare. Luffy laughed.

Genie-Guy snapped their fingers, and Ace and Koala vanished into thin air. Luffy blinked.

"Where's the portal?" He asked, tilting his head. Genie-Guy uncurled and straightened themself, stretching.

"Visible and _open_ from the Afterworld side only," they said smugly, "It's going to drop them on the outskirts of Amazon Lily when they get back. Near the sub, of course, as long as it's not moved." They laughed.

Traffy stepped forwards. "Now then, genie-ya, since Straw Hat-ya's siblings no longer require your _assistance,_ I can _finally_ examine you properly."

Genie-Guy shrieked and hid behind Luffy. "You! You still have wishes to make, don't you?! Tell him to step off!"

Luffy tilted his head, deciding to go with the genie's request. "Hey, Traffy, I don't think you should examine Genie-Guy yet, I wanna talk to them. How'd you know that, anyways?" he added to Genie-Guy.

"It's Trafalgar!" Traffy snapped.

"Magic," Genie-Guy said, wiggling their fingers, "And if you can't remember Aeriasky, could you at _least_ call me Sky?"

Luffy thought about that. "Hm…Sky is a nice name!" It fit the genie a lot better than 'Law' fit a pirate, anyways. "So, I wish-"

" _Hold_ it, Straw Hat-ya," Traffy snapped, "What, exactly, are you planning on wishing for?"

"Why should I tell you?" Luffy asked, sticking out his tongue.

Traffy's eye twitched. "I _am_ a doctor, and you're still my patient. If you're going to go rush off after your siblings, and I'm _sure_ you are, you need to be sufficiently healed first."

"Well, yeah, I'm not stupid," Luffy agreed, "I was gonna wish to be all better first!"

Traffy shot Sky a - what was the word? - dubious look. "Can he do that?"

"I refuse to answer on the grounds that you creep me the hell out," Sky answered, poking their head over Luffy's shoulder. Traffy scowled.

"…I'll make you a truce," he said after a moment, still scowling, "No examinations until Straw Hat-ya is off after his siblings."

"Examination _attempts,"_ Sky corrected, floating out from behind Luffy a bit more, "You'll have to catch me first."

Traffy's scowl deepened. Luffy remembered Makino once saying to Ace, 'If you keep making that expression, your face will freeze like that!' He wondered if Traffy's face would get stuck into a perma-scowl.

"Fine," Traffy said, "Now. _Can_ he, or you, whichever, heal completely with a wish?"

"Hmmm…" Sky placed their hands on Luffy's shoulders, floated up above him, and looked him over. Luffy beamed at them. This conversation was funny. "No."

Luffy's face fell. "Whaaaaat?"

"Not completely," Sky explained, "I can take a week or two off the healing time, but you'll still need some time for your body to repair itself. Mostly because of the poison and all those energy shots. Have I mentioned my powers don't work great with Devil Fruit shit? Because they don't." Sky grabbed Luffy's cheek and stretched it out. "And _you've_ got a Devil Fruit yourself, that's another problem right there."

"You're being unusually helpful," Traffy said.

"Fuck you, I'm always helpful," Sky said absently, continuing to tug on Luffy's rubber body. Luffy laughed. "I just haven't had a lot of people to talk to, y'know?" they continued, "You spend five thousand years in a lamp, you get attached quickly when someone lets you out, you get chatty when you get attached."

"That sounds so _lonely,"_ Luffy said, looking at the genie with wide eyes. He felt sorry for Sky. Being alone for so long was _awful._

Sky shrugged. "Eh, you get used to it."

"I would think you would be reluctant to trust anyone after being alone so long," Traffy said, looking suspiciously at Sky.

"Well, not all of us are antisocial assholes," Sky retorted, letting go of Luffy, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm taking a nap."

"Ah - wait!" Luffy shouted as Sky turned smokey, but then they were already gone. "Aw, I never got to use a wish…"

"You can heal on your own for a while," Traffy said shortly. Luffy picked up the lamp from the deck. "Come on, Straw Hat-ya."

"Luffy," Luffy corrected. He hadn't really noticed earlier between Ace and Koala and Sky, but Traffy was doing the same thing Koala had when Luffy had first met her!

… _Ooooohhhh,_ Luffy was totally going to make friends with Traffy.

"Whatever. I need to change your bandages and make sure you didn't pull any stitches."

"Kay," Luffy said with a shrug. His stomach growled, which reminded him… "Hey, how long was I out?"

"Five days."

"I MISSED TWENTY-FIVE MEALS?!" Luffy yelped.

"WHY ARE YOU COUNTING FIVE MEALS A DAY?!" Traffy yelled back.

Luffy was about to say why _wouldn't_ he when he remembered something else. "Oh, crap! I was supposed to meet my crew at Sabaody two days ago!"

"Don't worry, Straw Hat-ya-" Traffy began.

"Luffy," Luffy reminded him.

"…Straw Hat-ya," Traffy repeated, eye twitching slightly. He'd get it eventually. Koala had. "I doubt your crewmates are anywhere near Sabaody."

"Nah, they totally are, I gotta warn them I won't be there!"

Traffy sighed and rubbed his forehead. "And how do you plan to do that?"

Luffy opened his mouth to answer.

"CAPTAIN!" A guy yelled, scrambling onto the deck and interrupting Luffy, "WE GOTTA PROBLEM!"

"Hm?" Traffy turned. "Shachi, what's up?"

"Some old guy just punched out a Neptunian - he wants to see Luffy!"

Traffy slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh, what _now?"_

* * *

 **Ahhhhhh, cliffies. And it's a TRUE cliffie because NEXT chapter we're finally going down to the Afterworld which mean you're all going to just have to wonder!**

 **(spoiler tho: it's rayleigh)**

 **Quick disclaimer: Personally, I love Law's name. Traffy's just...eh. But I'm here to write Luffy's POV, so there's his reasoning. As I see it.**

 **Also, quite frankly, I was really nervous about how everyone would take the voices. I'm glad you all seem to like them...or, at least, I'm glad you don't hate them!**

 **AND NOW REVIEW REPLIES!**

 **Guest: Tbh, I have no idea how I'm gonna pull off Dressrosa either. Magic, I suppose. Also...no. He's dead. Very dead. Law managed to get the parts fast and _somehow_ got it on life support, but (and I forgot to mention this in the story, so here it is now) there were three days between Hancock leaving and the Fishmen arriving. Sabo's soul was long gone by that point, and Ace's Devil Fruit with it. He's gonna have a helluva time getting that back in a couple years. And...yes, something like that. I'm glad you liked the voices! You may not forgive me, but you're still reading, so I'm counting it as a win. Your reaction means I'm doing it right. Yessss.**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: *finger guns***

 **Dhea30: I mean, it's gonna take a while to get around to all of them, but I'm gonna try my damnedest to include them all! Just...so long as I can remember them all...**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: Don't worry man you're not horrible, you just got absorbed in the story. _I_ get to claim Most Horrible. I'm writing all this angst.**

 **ClearWolf: Dude you are a seriously accurate guesser it's scary. You have moved up to #2 Backup Beta Reader. Luffy is definitely going to go after his siblings just as soon as he can get away with it. And also your guess for part 3 is 100% correct.**

 **Catlover4536: Oooh, good answer. Also I wear glasses so that would definitely do some damage. I'm glad you like the idea and the story! I hope you get some inspiration for your own story soon (No hard feelings at all, I totally understand)!**

 **YJV: Law would have to catch the genie first. So far Aeriasky's been teleporting him or themself out of range when Law gets too close - and, you know, hiding in their lamp. Plus I don't even know what he'd really do. If I get an idea, though, I'll put it in!**

 **JarOfIdeas: ...Would you believe I didn't even think of that? I think Marco's reasoning is along the lines of 'Ace hasn't asked for help, and he's got Koala backing him up, he'll probably be okay and it's not like I can stop him.' Ace is a Very Independent person, at least as Marco knows him, and he'd probably reject the offer anyways. ...Mostly it just never occurred to me, though.**

 **Kneoria: Yes.**

 **pizzafan123: Nobody is safe from the Angst Train. Muahaha. I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Fuckin' Law. Ace probably does. I'll tell ya what, if Saraku publishes the story, I'll be sure to make an author's note shoutout about it, yeah?**

 **ALSO! TRIPLE SWITCH IS BEING TRANSLATED INTO VIETNAMESE! someone liked it enough to translate it and i am sTILL SCREAMING about it like holy shit u guys**

 ***Clears throat* Ahhh, anyways. Don't forget to leave a review; I'll see you all...probably by Friday? By next week at the latest. I hope.**


	10. Koala and Ace Deal with Customs

**I am literally posting this from my phone on the way to a weekend vacation. So. That's happening. Lemme tell u something I was in a FRENZY to finish this before I left. Thank god for preemptively written review replies.**

 **Koala and Ace finally storm the afterlife. Enjoy!**

* * *

Koala was floating.

She felt light and weightless, and her feet weren't touching anything. There was a cool, slightly tingly sensation all over her body, almost as though she was immersed in water. Her vision was nothing but ice-blue whiteness, if that color made any sort of sense.

Then her feet hit the ground and her vision cleared, and Koala got her first glimpse of the Afterworld. Her breath caught.

She was standing next to Ace on top of a grassy hill. A light breeze was blowing, pleasantly cool against her face. The grass was green, the _perfect_ shade of green that Koala had never actually seen in real life, rippling in the wind. The sky was bright blue; the clouds that floated across it were white and fluffy.

Spread out below the hill was a sprawling city of whitewashed buildings and red tiled roofs. There was a wall of sorts running around its edges, stone, with huge arches every few feet; obviously not meant to keep people out, but rather mark the city limits. To the west of the city was the sea; perfectly blue-green, white foam washing onto a long strip of sandy beach; again, _perfect_ colors that she had never actually seen, only imagined. On the upper end of the beach; the northern end, farthest from the hill; there was a harbor, several ships floating peacefully in the docks, vague shapes of people strolling on the boardwalk.

It was stunningly beautiful.

"Doesn't look much like Pirate Heaven," Ace frowned. Koala blinked, then let out a surprised laugh. Here she was being floored by the afterlife, and Ace was utterly unimpressed. Ace blinked, looked at her, and added with a grin, "But I guess it's not a bad place to end up."

Koala grinned back at him. "So what would Pirate Heaven be, then?"

"Ocean," Ace answered instantly, "Lots of ocean, and alcohol, and _partying._ And freedom," he added, looking wistful, "Above all, freedom…"

That wistful expression on _Sabo's_ face made Koala's heart pang again. She shook herself and took a deep breath. They were here. They were here for _Sabo._ Sabo was somewhere in that city, she was certain of it. It was go time. Or nearly. "All right. First. Before we charge in, we've got to make sure we know where our exit is, in case things go wrong."

Koala and Ace frowned at each other for a moment, wondering where the portal was. Then, simultaneously, they turned to look behind them.

The portal was a circular, swirling mass of colors, all changing and moving. Just looking at it made Koala dizzy in seconds. Koala couldn't quite tell how big it was, only that it was _big enough._ There weren't really edges to the portal, just places where the colors changed and shifted to sky and grass and horizon. At the bottom of that side of the hill was a huge, lush forest that seemed almost as if it was there solely to mirror the city on the other side, although Koala couldn't imagine why she got that impression; she just _did._

She and Ace turned back around.

"Portal, check," Ace said, sounding dazed, "Anything else?"

Koala wracked her brains. She didn't want to forget anything drastically important _this_ time. "Let's see…we need to stick together, I don't want us to lose each other. Let's try not to piss off anyone…we don't know who, or what, we'll encounter."

"Maybe Pops is here," Ace said, hope lighting up his voice, "Or Thatch. I'd like to talk to them, just one more time…"

Koala thought of Fisher Tiger, her savior, her father-figure. He eyes welled up with tears involuntarily at the thought of seeing him, speaking with him, just one more time.

She shook her head. She had to focus on Sabo. But…if the opportunity came, she wouldn't pass it up. Nor would she begrudge Ace if he found his nakama.

"Let's see," Koala continued, thinking out loud, "Sabo should look like himself, because, you know…souls and things." That was the only way Aeriasky had described it. "So if anyone asks, you're his twin brother."

Ace winced at the reminder. "Do we have to…?"

Koala felt for Ace. She knew he hated this, but, well… "It's that or explain the whole thing with the genie."

Ace winced again. "Ugh. So what's your excuse? Desperate lover?" He grinned teasingly.

Koala whapped him in the back of the head. "Don't be gross, it's older sister, just like normal."

Ace's eyes widened. "Wait, what?"

Koala gave him a strange look. Hadn't he known that? "I really hope you aren't surprised I'm your sister, Ace," she said teasingly.

"No, I - _older?"_

Koala nodded. "You and Sabo are twenty, aren't you?" she said matter-of-factly, "I'm a year older; twenty-one."

Ace looked dumbstruck. "Goddamn," he said, his tone almost _awe,_ "I have an older sister. An actual, official, proper older sibling. _I'm somebody's little brother-"_

Koala smashed her fist over his head before he freaked out. That always brought people back to their senses. Or out of them, depending. Anyways- "Not just _somebody's_ little brother; _mine._ Come on, Ace, let's go save our other brother."

Ace shook his head. "Right. There's nothing else that we need to go over?"

Koala paused briefly, thinking. "I have a pipe - well, I guess it's Sabo's pipe - if you happen to need it. Think that's it." She started down the hill, towards the city.

"You _what?"_ Ace started after her a second later. "But you don't - _where?_ And _why?"_

Koala reached behind her back and pulled out said pipe without breaking stride. Ace stared in what she could only interpret as awe.

"Goddamn. You've _gotta_ teach me that trick."

Koala laughed and put it back. "To be honest, I wasn't sure if it would work with something as big as the pipe, but I tried it and it does. As for why…well, it's just, when were were trading stories that time on the _Sunny,_ you guys said you fought with pipes as kids, didn't you? I thought it might come in handy." Sabo had used it in - in the war. And he'd been damn good with it, too.

"You are officially the coolest person I know. Marco's been demoted."

Koala laughed again - part startled, part just plain _happy._ That simple statement filled her with something, some feeling she recognized but had never named - a mix of pride, surprise and joy.

"Thanks, _little brother."_

And saying those two words gave her the same feeling.

Ace's smile twitched and then fell slightly. "Sabo and I…we never did find out who was older."

They were about halfway down the hill, and the wall of arches was becoming clearer - a towering thing that rose above all the buildings of the town except a lighthouse near the coast, past the harbor, and a tall building with a rounded dome on top near the center of the town. Now that they were closer, Koala could make out figures standing in the arches, a single figure at each; perhaps a guard or customs officer of sorts.

Koala blinked, processing Ace's quiet statement a minute after he'd said it. He was still talking.

"We…we always…for us, we just had two older brothers with a little brother to take care of. It didn't matter. Once we said whoever was tallest was older." Ace smiled slightly, but then it dropped again. "But we just…never really thought about it. It wasn't important." Ace took a deep breath. "An I don't know why…but it feels important now."

Koala hesitated before she spoke, finding the words she wanted to say. "Would you rather ask him yourself, or do you mind if I tell you?"

Ace gave her a startled look. "You know-?" and then, at her grin, "Of course you know."

Silence. Koala stated to make out the figures standing at the arches; they were humanoid, tall, and uniformed.

"…Tell me," Ace said. Koala looked at him and smiled gently.

"Sabo's birthday is March twentieth." She said it slowly, carefully, treating it like the precious treasure she knew it was to Ace.

Ace's face, Sabo's face, split into a wide grin. "January first," he said, almost triumphantly, "I'm older."

Koala grinned, reached up, and pulled Ace's hat down over his eyes. "But I've got dibs on eldest."

Ace pushed his hat up and laughed.

They reached the arches not long after that.

The figure leaning lazily against the arch as the siblings approached was seven feet tall, red-skinned, and practically asleep. Koala and Ace exchanged amused looks as the - man?- snorted and nearly fell flat on his face before jerking wildly awake, windmilling his arms for balance.

"Fine. I'm fine," the man (?) said, apparently to himself. Then he noticed Koala and Ace and visibly startled before slapping a hand to his face. "Ah, boy. New arrivals. Hey, listen, do me a favor and don't mention to anyone I was sleeping on the job, yeah?"

Koala exchanged an amused look with Ace before the latter shrugged with a casual "Sure."

The man(?) sighed in relief. "Great. Thanks." He straightened and pulled out a strange black rectangle. "So, names and causes of death?"

The constant mantra of 'get in, get Sabo, get out' that had been pounding in Koala's head stuttered into 'do what?'

"I'm Portgas D. Ace, this is-"

Koala slammed her foot on top of Ace's. He yelped, and she grabbed his ear and yanked it close to her mouth. "What do you think you're doing?" she hissed.

"Giving the guy the info he asked for, what does it _look-"_ Ace began.

"Are you stupid?" Koala hissed furiously, cutting him off, "haven't you ever heard of _subtlety? Caution? Concealment?"_

"I'm a pirate, what do I care about that shit?" Ace grumbled.

"This explains so much about you," Koala said, deadpan.

Ace scowled at her. "Besides, what's the point? It's the goddamn afterlife, we're gonna end up here anyways, and it's not like they can kill us if we're already in dead people land." He paused. "…Right?"

Koala was almost certain that wasn't how it worked, but she sighed and let go of his ear anyways. Ace straightened and rubbed it with a scowl. The man (you know what, fuck it, Koala was calling him a man until proven otherwise) was looking at his strange black rectangle with a confused expression.

"No Portgas D. Ace on the queue," he said, "What exactly was your cause of death? Or are you in a coma or-"

Koala thought quickly and came up with the same solution Ace had - there wasn't a point in lying. "We're not dead," she said bluntly, "We're here to save our brother."

"Haven't you ever heard of _subtlety,"_ Koala heard Ace mimic under his breath. She stomped on his foot again. "OW!"

The man blinked once before his eyes widened. "Aw, _what,_ you're heroes?"

Koala furrowed her brow at the description. 'Heroes' wasn't exactly how she'd term it.

"Ugh, they mentioned this in orientation, but they never bothered to _cover_ it - 'the portals are all closed,' they said," the man continued, obviously not paying attention to them anymore as he turned and gestured dramatically, "'You'll never have to worry about it,' they said." Koala began to try and edge through the arch. "Hold on, I'll have to call my manager."

"Your what," Ace said, deadpan. The man held up a finger in the universal gesture for 'wait' and tapped his black rectangle a few times before bringing it to his ear, where he spoke into it.

"Hello? Yes, sorry - I really apologize, but - oh, we have heroes at the city limits."

Koala exchanged a look with Ace. Ace circled his finger by his forehead - the universal gesture for 'loony.' Koala wasn't so sure. It seemed to her that the rectangle might work a bit like a Transponder Snail - she could even hear a loud, screeching voice coming from it, although faintly. Maybe this was the Afterworld equivalent.

"Where - uh, arch 367-S." A pause. "Right." The man brought the rectangle away from his ear, tapped it, and edged backwards.

That action rung alarm bells in Koala's head. She grabbed Ace's arm and pulled him back a few steps, ignoring his startled "Wha-?" and opened her mouth to interrogate the man on what had just happened.

Then there was a blast of black smoke in the middle of the arch. It quickly gathered into a cloud, which made Koala think of Aeriasky, before it dispersed, revealing a creature that matched up extremely well with Koala's mental image of a demon imp.

It spun around, searching for Ace and Koala, and locked onto them with a fearsome scowl. The effect was slightly ruined by the pair of glasses it wore, and because although the demon (or whatever it was) hovered at eye level with the aid of leathery bat wings, it couldn't have been more than two feet tall.

"Heroes!" It shrieked in a grating voice that made Koala, Ace, and the now-cowering red-skinned man wince, "Blasted interfering heroes, always trying to upset the natural order of things! Who is it you're trying to save now, eh?!"

"Our brother," Ace began firmly, "And we're _not_ her-"

The demon cut Ace off with a disgusted sound. "Pah! At least it's a better story than all those blasted _romantics_ saving their lovers! Damn humans, _always_ humans, why is it _always_ blasted humans?!"

Koala and Ace exchanged looks. Koala raised an eyebrow.

How did you even _get_ here?" The demon asked with a scowl, the shriek in its voice lessening (to everyone's great relief), "I thought we'd closed up all the portals after that blasted Jackson incident!"

The man cleared his throat hesitantly. "Those were only the ones connecting to HB-24-12, actually."

The demon frowned, whipped out a scroll, and opened it, seemingly to search for something. "Was it?"

"Look-" Koala tried to begin, at the same time that Ace stepped forward with murder in his eyes. She yanked him back by his (well, Sabo's, actually) shirt collar as the demon's gaze snapped up.

"Which world are you two from?" It asked in a voice much less grating than before.

Koala and Ace exchanged puzzled looks. The demon slapped a hand to its face.

"Urgh. Do you know the name of your planet?"

"Eh…no," Ace admitted.

"That narrows it down more than you'd think…" the demon muttered, searching through its scroll. It squinted at something, pushed up its glasses, then looked up again. "What would you say is the most coveted treasure in your world?"

"Oh, that's easy," Koala said matter-of-factly, "It's the One Piece, no question."

The demon nearly dropped its scroll. " _That_ world?!" It shrieked, grating voice back in full force, "We never even _had_ portals in that world!"

"Yeah, well, thank Aeriasky," Ace said, his fingers firmly in his ears, "They're the one who said we could get Sabo."

The demon clutched at is scroll and let out a string of expletives that physically _sizzled_ in the air. Ace whistled, an impressed expression on his face.

"That * #!$% genie!" The demon screeched, "Meddling with-"

"Look, buddy," Koala said with a scowl, "We're just here for our brother. Get out of the way, or I'll _make_ you get out."

She was honestly expecting the demon to laugh in her face, or at least scoff. Instead it paled and moved to the side.

"Heroes," it moaned, "I hate heroes."

"I'm a _pirate,"_ Ace corrected, looking offended.

"What does it matter? You're here to bring someone back to life; that makes you a hero." The demon began to dissolve into black smoke. "Just let them in…"

Then it vanished. The red-skinned man, looking equally bemused and terrified, motioned for them to go through the arch.

"Uh, good luck finding your brother," he said nervously as they went past, "and, erm, welcome to Sailors' Refuge."

They were in.

* * *

 **...I was GOING to have them start running into dead people this chapter, but then they got held up by management. Whoops. Damn management.**

 **SarakuHD: Ooooh that's where you were. I kinda thought so but I wasn't sure. Yep, that...pretty much sums up the chapter. Luffy's actually pretty fun for me to write, partly because I kinda get how his brain works. Aeriasky is Not Learning from past mistakes but hey, it's not like Ace and Koala are ever gonna know, they're _in_ the Afterworld. Plus also it prevents people (like Luffy) from randomly stumbling into the afterlife. Afterworld. Whatever. Rayleigh has seen many things in his days...and this is in the top ten on the weirdness list. (Law, on the other hand...well, he's getting dragged into this mess if you'll recall.) Yeah, the sibs REALLY need some alone bonding time...I'll see what I can do. Definitely gonna try and make it happen, but, well, with Rayleigh and 3D2Y and...*coughs* nevermind. That's an endgame spoiler. And as for Dressrosa: Yes. Ace is gonna have *fun* there in two years.**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: Well, it's platonic LawLu...maybe. Possibly. No romance or sexytimes just Friends Being Friends (altho honestly I've been playing around with the idea of SaboLaw because I am rarepair trash but who knows if that'll pan out). Tbh I meant to take that out but I FORGOT, so yeah thanks for that reminder. I feel you on the nickname troubles, obviously. Probably going to end up just being Koala-ya. Sabo gets his own chapter after this one!...Actually he shares it with Luffy a little so we can see wtf happened up there but still. And yes. Roger is definitely there. Ace avoids him though, obviously. LUFFY, on the other hand. Oh-ho-ho boy. And thank you!**

 **YJV: Thanks for the compliment! I'm afraid I've already got a plan for Dressrosa and, well, that's not it. Also, Dressrosa is Part Three. Not this story, but the next.**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Welp u pretty much just summed up the chapter lemme scan this and hit your questions and comments directed at me. I'm glad you like his thought process, Ace just took off Sabo's cravat because it reminded him of Sabo _a lot_ , but he still has a shirt on, Law is Stuck With Them now (or soon), Luffy's math skills apply to food and food alone as we all know, and I'm glad you liked the chapter so much! *thumbs up***

 **Dhea30: Law might regret the offer but he still can't refuse them. The whole damn situation just reminds him of Cora-san and his own past. U r the second person to mention Rayleigh's unpreparedness with the craziness of the KASL kids. As for your request...I can probably do that in the 'Meanwhile' chapter, when we go check up on Sabo and see what happened with Luffy and stuff. We'll go see the Strawhats and the Whitebeards and Revolutionaries and Red Hairs and all that shit. Hoo boy that just turned into a much much longer chapter than I thought I was gonna write.**

 **AnyMoreBrightIdeasGenius: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it and thought it was in-character!**

 **BedofRoses1989: I'm glad you like Aeriasky! Your predictions for who's going to the Afterworld are off by one, though. And I'm afraid we don't see Sabo quite yet. _Next_ chapter, though, we'll get to him.**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: AYYYYYYYY**

 **Nao What: Fate is gr8 but u know what u should totally follow anyways. We authors will aggressively love you back (although some of us express that love throught Pain and Angst). I'm glad that...uh...well, really the only way to phrase it is 'I'm glad my chapters made you feel things.' That means I'm doing it right! I'm glad you like my headcanon enough to adopt it! As for the second review, I'm glad you like Luffy's thought process! Thing is, I can't give Law a nickname that doesn't make sense to Luffy, and 'Torao' popped up because the Japanese pronounce Trafalgar as 'Torafaugar' or smthn. Tora, Tora-o. So that doesn't really apply. And Tra-guy is almost worse. So, I've gotten used to Traffy. I do like Toaro a lot better though, personally. Sweet damn u counted my a's *I* didn't even count my a's. That is a very safe bet to place (and don't worry, no more dead siblings after this story). Oh ho buddy he just might be. Honestly idk where Law's gonna end up, other than Very Close to KASL. Specifics remain to be seen. I will totally attempt overprotective!Ace (and Koala) but again; mostly I gotta see what develops.**

 **ClearWolf: *thumbs up***

 **the wizards-mafia: I'M GLAD YOU LOVE IT! ENJOY THE STORY AS IT CONTINUES**

 **anaisntonfire: Thank you very much for your kind words! Hope you enjoyed!**


	11. Meanwhile, We Go See Other People

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I AM. SO SORRY. THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG. IT TOOK S O LONG TO WRITE AND LONGER TO TYPE UP AND I AM VERY SORRY.**

 **That being yelled, thank you to everyone following, favoriting, and especially reviewing; you're all wonderful, thank you so much for your patience! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

 **Post Marineford: Day One**

Dragon answered the snail.

"This is Koala, sir," came from the snail before he could rattle off his usual greeting, "I have the report for Marineford." Her voice was flat and hollow, which quite frankly worried Dragon. He couldn't really show it much, though, other than trying to reassure her.

"Koala," Dragon said, attempting to make his voice gentle, "You don't have to give this report. I know you're grieving for your brother. Hack can report in." Dragon wondered why Sabo hadn't been the one to call - and answered his own question upon realizing Sabo had known Ace much longer than Koala had (even if you _did_ discount the ten years he'd spent with amnesia), and was likely grieving much more deeply than she was.

"I don't think he can," Koala said, her voice still heart-twistingly hollow, "He didn't see all of it. I mean, he did, but he wasn't _there_ when it - when he - after-"

"Koala," Dragon repeated, still trying to use that gentle voice (honestly, he had no idea how well it was working, if it was at all), "We have the transponder videos recorded to look after, too. You don't have to give this report."

"With all due respect, I really feel that I do, sir," she replied flatly.

Dragon sighed internally. "Very well. Go ahead."

"Thank you, sir." Koala cleared her throat. Her voice held no inflection as she continued, and the snail's face was…empty. It showed more emotion asleep than it did right now. Koala seemed so _drained._ Dragon hadn't realized she had gotten so close to Ace; and in such a short time, too…

"We arrived at Marineford just as Aokiji's ice wall was shattered by Whitebeard…"

Dragon knew what had happened, more or less - they _had_ been broadcasting with a transponder snail, after all - but he listened to Koala's report, picking up and filling in details that the camera had missed. As she continued, her tone never once deviating from that flat, hollow drone, Dragon's concern for her slowly spiked. He was half-considering ordering her and Sabo to report back to base for therapy. If Koala was taking Ace's loss so badly, then Sabo must be absolutely _devastated._

She made it all the way up to the moment she and Sabo had released Ace before her voice finally broke.

"And t-then Sabo shoved Ace off the platform, and we j-jumped-" Koala broke off. She tried to take a breath (to steady herself, Dragon presumed), but it only became a sob. "S-sorry, s-sir-" There was another sob-breath, and then a third, as the snail's eyes filled with tears. "I-I'm s-sorry…"

"It's okay to cry, Koala," Dragon offered softly.

"No, you d-don't understand! That's not-" another gasp, a sniffle, "n-not what I mean!"

Dragon waited.

"I-I-I brought-" a gulp, a breath, another sob, "the lamp, Aeriasky's lamp, a-and I _forgot_ about it! W-we could have used it so m-much sooner, and th-then he wouldn't have - w-wouldn't have-" and here was the greatest sob of all- "di-i-i-i-ed!"

Dragon's heart ached for her - but he had seen close friends die before, and though he regretted the loss of a bright young man like Ace, he could accept it with only faint regret. Dragon was excellent at distancing himself from his emotions, and he had never been close to Ace, anyways. Koala had become attached phenomenally quickly, especially for her. It must have been that siblinghood oath.

"It's not your fault that Ace died, Koala. He chose to…" Koala's sobs cut off with a startled intake of breath, and Dragon paused mid-sentence.

"…Not Ace, sir," Koala said, "It's not Ace who died." Her voice was hollow again, but this time there was a tinge of grief.

Dragon's heart clenched abruptly. "What?"

"I haven't finished my report," Koala continued, "After we freed Ace, Ivankov injected Luffy with a final shot of energy hormone. Ace rushed off to protect him. Sabo and I spoke briefly with Whitebeard before we continued our escape."

Dragon was tempted to ask Koala to skip to the point, but he kept his mouth shut with some effort. A foreboding feeling was growing in the pit of his stomach.

"W-we heard shouts for Ace to keep running, and found that he was confronting Akainu. I r-remembered about the lamp, and summoned Aeriasky. A-and th-then…" Koala - the snail, rather, mimicking Koala's expression on the other end of the line - closed her eyes, which were filling with tears once more, and took a shuddering breath. "Ace was struck by Akainu, and S-Sabo wished to take his place."

The foreboding feeling coalesced into a dark ball of shock and grief and _pain_ and dropped heavily into Dragon's stomach.

"Sabo," the snail whispered, eyes still closed, tears shining but not quite falling, "Sabo is dead."

Dragon sat, paralyzed. The shining tears fell. The snail was crying softly. Dragon felt a wetness on his cheeks and found, to his distant surprise, that he was crying, too.

"I see," he managed to say in a twisted half-whisper.

"W-w-we-" there was a mighty sniffle- "we can…the genie h-has a, a loophole. Th-they c-can't bring people back from the d-dead, but-" a gulp- "we can. We can g-get him. A-Ace and I - we're going to bring him back."

Something like hope flared in Dragon's chest. "I can send reinforcements-"

"No." Koala's voice was shaky but sure. "This is for us to do." Dragon picked up on an undercurrent in her voice - something like _pleasejusttrustuspleasepleasepleaseIswearTRUSTME_ \- and slowly, he nodded.

"Very well. Thank you for your report, Koala."

He hung up the snail, stood from his desk, and walked towards the nearest balcony. He needed the open air.

It wasn't that he didn't believe in Koala, but on the likely chance that she failed, he would have lost two of his best and his brightest. And he had just learned that he'd already lost a boy he had practically seen as a son. Dragon was excellent at distancing himself from his emotions, yes, but Sabo was - had been - so, so much closer than Ace.

There was no one around when he got to the balcony, no one in sight. In this pseudo-privacy, the wind blowing against his face, Dragon let his silent tears fall.

He would be there for a long time.

 **Post Marineford: Day Three**

Being dead wasn't at all like Sabo had expected it to be.

He hadn't ended up in Heaven; he hadn't gone to Hell; he hadn't stopped existing altogether, as he had always privately feared he might.

He had simply closed his eyes, and opened them again to find himself standing in an archway with a humanoid creature of some sort who looked utterly bored.

The afterlife was a city. Actually, it was apparently many cities, towns, resorts, forests, a world of its own that, according to the books he'd dug up (well, actually, they had been recommended to him), "human souls gathered to like lemmings to cliffs." Sabo thought that comparison seemed rather ominous, personally, but it seemed like there were no negative connotations in death here. Obviously. Some of the entities that had lived here before had decided to make a business of it; they were apparently immortal and found it a good way to kill time.

Of course, Sabo had no way of knowing exactly how biased these books were, and so took all this information with a grain of salt.

But the indisputable facts were that Sabo was dead, and despite that he felt perfectly alive. He had simply become a citizen of Sailors' Refuge. The customs officer or whatever at the archway had explained it as "another form of life - just think of it as moving." It was a nice place, Sabo admitted, a fine city to live - or whatever they called it here - in.

Despite that, Sabo felt trapped. He wasn't even sure _why._ He'd been given a house, a place to work (if he wanted to - how they'd decided he would like to work in a bookshop, he had no idea, even if the fact was he _would_ very much enjoy that), free run of the city, and next to no laws to live under besides "do not kill" (because apparently, that could happen _twice)_ and the unspoken social and ethical taboos. So why in the world did he still feel trapped here?

On some level, Sabo knew the answer to that. House didn't mean home. Work wasn't the same as purpose. Free run didn't equate to _freedom._ He missed his siblings. He missed the sense of _purpose_ that the Revolution gave him. He missed _life,_ although he knew he would gladly die a thousand times again for Ace, or his other two siblings.

Also, he couldn't leave. Not 'leave' as in come back to life, Sabo wasn't so foolish as to think of that as an option, but leave the city and set sail. He wanted to take a ship and sail the ocean like the pirate he'd once set out to be as a child.

He couldn't do that.

Sabo didn't know of the exact reasons - he'd asked around, _no one_ seemed to know the exact reasons, and no book mentioned it - but nobody was allowed to set sail from Sailors' Refuge. The strange, not-quite-human gate guards gave vague excuses, only assuring that "It'll only be a century or so before it's all sorted out, and then you can go."

"They've been saying 'it'll only be a century' _for_ centuries," Sabo had heard someone nearby mutter at this, but the good-natured tone of the grumble told Sabo that this was likely a popular, long-running joke.

Sabo didn't think he could wait that long. So he'd asked around, and found out-

"There is a loophole, actually," the dark haired woman said, pulling a couple of books from the library shelf and plunking them on top of one of the growing piles of books already on the table, "but only if you have a ship of your own."

Sabo blinked at the woman, Beth. He'd come across her on practically day one - no, _actually_ day one, he'd only been here for three - while searching for information books in the library. She'd been the one to give him the books he was looking for. "But - how can you bring a ship _with_ you?" he asked, puzzled. He'd shown up as himself, not Ace, and wearing the exact clothes he'd been wearing at Marineford minus his pipe. Nothing else. He was pretty sure you _couldn't_ bring anything else, certainly not something as big as a ship.

Beth pushed up her glasses and grinned. "Have you ever heard of klabautermänner? Or klabautermann, singular."

"Um…" Sabo frowned in thought. "In passing, I think?"

Beth shuffled through the piles of books on the table, making Sabo lean back in his chair to avoid her elbow. She pulled out a thick green tome and opened it to a bookmarked page. She turned the book around so he could read the entry. "Klabautermann - a water spirit or fairy that dwells on ships and is basically an incarnation of a ship that has been well-cared for," she recited, tapping the yellowed page. Sabo pulled the book a little closer and leaned over it. "The ships in the harbor are klabautermänner," Beth continued, pulling her ponytail a little tighter, "They're waiting for their crews. Actually, the ship I sailed on is in the harbor, but Az is waiting for the last few members of our crew to show…"

Sabo nodded absentmindedly as Beth went off on a tangent about her crew. He didn't have a ship of his own; so he was trapped.

He made the best of it. His house was nice. He had things to occupy him. He made friends and traded stories, and sometimes went down to the harbor to watch the ocean.

And he waited.

It wasn't such a bad afterlife, after all.

 **Post Marineford: Day Five**

On the deck of the Moby Dick, there was a stunned silence that rang in Marco's ears.

"Marco," Jozu finally said, breaking the silence, "would you care to repeat that?"

"Ace isn't dead, yoi," Marco repeated, and the bombshell fell to the deck once again, sending ripples through the crew.

"But we _saw_ him!" Haruta blurted out, "We saw him die! There's - he just - _magma,_ Marco!"

"We saw the life leave his body, yoi," Marco agreed, "but it's not the first time Ace hasn't been in his own body."

Marco could practically _feel_ the collective intake of breath.

"Oh, no," Izo breathed, "Oh, Ace, no, our poor baby brother…"

"Who is he trapped in?" Blenhiem asked, quivering with emotion - rage or pity or what, Marco couldn't tell.

"Sabo, yoi," Marco answered. He hesitated before continuing. "Ace said…that they were going to get him back. Quite frankly, I'm not sure I want to know what that entails, yoi. But I said I'd bring him his things."

"Hat. Beads. Knife," Blamenco recited, a shell-shocked expression on his face. Marco nodded at him.

"Right, yoi."

"Why didn't Ace come with you?" Namur asked with a frown, "You'd think he'd tell us himself…"

' _If you'd seen his face, you'd understand,'_ Marco thought. Out loud, "Would you have wanted to see your nakama, only to be met with blank looks and non-recognition - or maybe even resentment, yoi?"

There was a collective wince.

"Exactly." Marco moved forwards. "I'm going to get Ace's things, yoi. Hopefully…he'll come back to us soon."

"Why can't we go with him?" Haruta blurted out. Marco blinked and turned his gaze to the Division Twelve commander. "Why can't we go with Ace, to help him?!"

Marco tilted his head slightly, considering. "Why didn't we go with him when he went after Blackbeard?"

Almost as one, the gathered crew flinched.

"Pops ordered us not to-" Rakuyo began, but Marco interrupted him in a soft, level voice.

"Pops ordered _Ace_ not to go, yoi. He went anyways. And none of us went after him because we all wanted the bastard to die, yoi; and we _knew_ we couldn't stop Ace." Marco swept his gaze over the crew… _his_ crew. "We had confidence in Ace, yoi, we trusted him. And now we're going to trust him again."

A solemn silence fell upon the Whitebeard Pirates.

"But he failed," someone whispered. Marco purposefully and carefully did not try to search for who it was.

"He was alone, yoi. His pride got in the way," Marco said quietly. "Ace has Koala at his side this time. She's got a good head on her shoulders, yoi. She'll keep him grounded." He paused, took in a breath, then continued, trying to keep a slight shake out of his voice. "Besides that, yoi - even though Ace is our brother, if we offered to help him save _his…_ I get the feeling he'd just tell us it's not our brother to save."

The silence dragged on, and after a moment Marco moved forwards, the crew quietly shuffling out of his was as he went to get Ace's things.

Marco knew Ace too well to offer help. He just had to believe in Ace. Believe in his brother.

They would all have to believe in the brother who had never seen them in the same way.

 **Post Marineford: Day Seven**

3D2Y

That was the symbol on Luffy's arm when he pulled what Traffy called his "insane, fatalistic" stunt at Marineford. It had been Rayleigh's suggestion, though when he pointed that out to Traffy he just snorted and called Rayleigh an "insane, fatalistic old man," although Rayleigh's plan made perfect sense to Luffy. Luffy wondered what "fatalistic" meant.

Eh. Didn't matter, really. Luffy was going to stay and train and get stronger; that had been Rayleigh's idea, and Luffy thought it was a _great_ one, because if he got stronger, then Marineford wouldn't happen again, nothing like it. Luffy couldn't let Marineford happen again. Luffy didn't want to let his nakama, his siblings, suffer - he wouldn't let any of them die in his arms again. He _refused_ to be too weak to save them.

Never, ever again.

But first he had to save Sabo.

…Well, actually, first he had to get Traffy to understand that he had to go save Sabo.

"Traffyyyyyyyy, c'moooooon," Luffy whined, "at least lemme heal super-fast?"

"It's Trafalgar," Traffy snapped, "And I don't trust the extent of-"

" _Uuuugghh,_ are you gonna make that bullshit excuse _again?"_

"IT'S NOT BULLSHIT!" Traffy yelled, "IT IS A _PERFECTLY REASONABLE-"_

"There they go again," Luffy heard Shachi mutter with a small laugh in his voice.

"Cap'n's finally lost his patience," Penguin snickered quietly.

"The hell do you mean _finally?_ He's been yelling for the last three rehashes."

Penguin just snickered some more in response.

Luffy tried hitting Traffy with his best puppy dog eyes, the ones even Ace - hell, even _Nami -_ had never been able to resist. "Pleaaaaaase? It can't hurt to try! And then I could go and-"

"For the last time, Straw Hat-ya-"

"Luffy," Luffy reminded him.

"DAMMIT-" Traffy cut himself off and took a deep breath. "If you won't use _my_ name, why do you expect me to use _yours?"_

…Dammit, that made sense. But! In Luffy's defense-

"Traffy's real name is long and hard and Law is a stupid name for a pirate."

Traffy slammed his head against the wall. "Why did I ever agree to look after him?"

"Because Luffy told Rayleigh you would and Rayleigh pinned you with a _look?"_ Bepo offered.

"Rhetorical. Question," Traffy ground out.

"Ah, sorry captain!"

"No, no, not your fault."

Luffy laughed. He liked Bepo! Bepo was fluffy and nice and apologized even when he didn't need to, which was silly.

Buuuut Traffy still hadn't said yes to the super-fast-healing-thing, and Luffy still needed to go save Sabo. So far they'd spent two days going around in circles, which was already way too long. It was time for Luffy's secret weapon: attempting to think.

Luffy still didn't like thinking, it made his head hurt, but nothing _else_ had worked to convince Traffy he could totally go and get better and save Sabo. Let's see, what would make Traffy let Luffy make the all-better wish?

Well…Traffy was a doctor. Like Chopper! Or Granny Kureha! Or Crocus!

(Not Hogback, though. Hogback was a twisted jerk.)

So…what did doctors do. They fixed people. Duh. But…how did that connect to making Luffy let the wish? Maybe Traffy was offended that he couldn't fix Luffy that fast? Or…

Dammit, this wasn't going anywhere. And his head hurt. Thinking was stupid. Maybe Luffy could just sneak Sky out and-

Hold on. Traffy. Sky. Last time they'd been around each other, Traffy had wanted to examine Sky. Maybe find out how Sky worked? Yeah, that made sense, because Sky was obviously a-okay, they didn't need a checkup, and that was the only other reason doctors examined people or something like that. So it was to find out how Sky worked. Some of Luffy's crewmates were like that, wanting to find out how things worked, like Robin! Or Usopp! They wanted to know _how_ things happened! Luffy didn't really care, he'd just take things as they came, but if _Traffy_ was the kind of person who wanted to know hows and whys-

Let's see, Luffy had already promised Sky he'd stop Traffy from examining them, but-

"Hey, Traffy!" Luffy beamed.

"It's Trafalgar."

"Right. I have an idea!"

Traffy groaned, tilting his head towards the ceiling. "God forbid."

"So, like, what if I got Sky to make me better and then _you_ could go see what the genie magic _did!"_

Traffy paused and looked at Luffy for what felt like a very long time. There was a gleam in his eyes.

(What Luffy couldn't see was the internal war raging, Law's pride and common sense against his curiosity and mad scientist side. The latter two utterly curb-stomped common sense and after about thirty seconds of struggles kicked pride into oblivion.)

Very slowly, a smile spread over Traffy's face. "I believe I can agree to that, Straw Hat-ya."

"Luffy."

"Right."

* * *

 ***falls over* why did it take so long to write. why.**

 **So next chapter we pick up more or less where this one leaves off and then FEELS. SO MANY FEELS. MUAHAHAHAHA. Lots of excited screeching is involved.**

 **And now, review replies! Because _those_ I wrote as I got them. Saraku's got a lotta worldbuilding in there if you wanna see it.**

 **Also, yes, I am aware of the plot hole in Ace's characterization here. Please see my response to JarOfIdeas for an explanation.**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: Buddy man pal friend lemme tell u I have so many fun fun ideas for Luffy and Roger. Glad you understand the rarepair stuff! If ur forgetting the Whitebeards it only means I am doing a Very Good Job of sucking you into the story. So that's okay. I hope this chapter lived up to your hype!**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: Yes. That is exactly the Jackson I am referring to. AAYYYYYYY**

 **SarakuHD: Fuck the police is why it's legal. That makes no sense but I needed a witty retort so take it. Frankly, there aren't any particularly good or bad areas in the Afterworld; Sailors' Refuge is, to answer your question (world development time!), for people who had devoted their lives to the ocean, good or bad. Marines, pirates, sailors of any kind; this is where they end up. Same goes for the other cities. Those who devote themselves to God, to crafting, to study, whichever; they have their own places. The Ohara scholars, for example, reside in New Alexandria, the pinnacle of discovery and advancement. Though Sabo is devoted to the Revolution, his desire for freedom, as well as the world of One Piece kinda ensuring he had to spend a lot of time on the ocean, placed him in Sailors' Refuge. I'm glad you liked the sibling bonding! Yes, this is the first proper chance they've gotten to bond, minus shenanigans. They are such a Mess. The management is there because who _else_ is going to make sure all these dead people get to the right place? Not to mention making sure they don't kill each other (again) and rounding up Troublemakers to toss into Hell, and getting people to different cities if they have someone they're waiting for in who's likely to show up in another place (*cough*spoilerthishappenedwithUsopp'smom*cough*) and no. The Jackson incident is a reference to Percy Jackson, read those books and you'll get a general idea how such a thing could've happened. The Jackson who will appear later in the story is of no correlation. Aeriasky is a fucking asshole of a prankster so use your imagination. And yeah we're gonna get Red Hawk and Ace is totally going to be pouty about it. Ohhhhh yes, the siblings will have FUN in Dressrosa. Thanks for the compliment and the well wishes!**

 **Rboooks: Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Aeriasky lied about the contract it's actually a restraining order. They are no longer allowed to mess with the Afterworld directly. Glad you liked my version of the afterlife, complete with management!**

 **JarOfIdeas: I actually DO have an explanation beyond "I forgot" for this plot hole! I headcanon that while Ace accepted Whitebeard as his father, and the rest of the crew as nakama, he never actually accepted them fully as _brothers_. That honor belonged to Luffy and Sabo; Ace could never quite bring himself to think of Whitebeard's crew as brothers. Nakama, close friends, companions; never quite brothers. He felt like he'd be doing Sabo's memory a dishonor by accepting it. And then Sabo wasn't dead but by then the only crew member he'd been starting to tentatively think of as a brother WAS dead and well then Marineford. He accepted Koala so quickly because a) Sabo had accepted her first, so obviously there was no dishonor to him, b) Luffy had declared her family and Ace learned ten years ago there was no arguing with Luffy when it came to befriending (and adopting) people, and c) he and Koala had good first impressions of each other, unlike with the Whitebeard crew.**

 **Dhea30: I explained WHY we have management in my reply to SarakuHD; so people don't kill each other (again), so people get to the proper places, and so Troublemakers and Bad People *cough*Akainu*cough*Blackbeard*cough* go to hell. Literal Hell. And yes that is a reference to PJO. Hades controls a PART of the Afterworld, I'm sure. Just not this particular part. And I don't mind cursing and shouting, it just means you're Excited and this is good. Hope you enjoyed this chapter (also, the Straw Hats' reactions are about the same as in canon, and I couldn't think of anything for the Red-Hair Pirates, so that's why they aren't in here)!**

 **the wizards-mafia: Answering in reverse order here: Thank you! See my reply to JarOfIdeas for plot hole explanation. The Jackson is Percy. I'm glad you liked it!**

 **anaisntonfire: *thumbs up* Hope you enjoyed yourself!**

 **Lady Lily Anne: *rubs hand together* Let's see, in order...U bet ur ass he is. In my headcanons? Shanks sees Luffy the same way Roger saw his cabin boys. So, like, as an adorable apprentice who's gonna give the world hell some day. And yes b/c that ship is just adorable and perfect and I Love It okay I'm trash. The people in charge of the collective Afterworld like to get together for drinks and moan about heroes. You're welcome!**

 **Nao What: Welcome to the next chapter. Hope the time travel went well. Thanks so much for all those reviews on TS! I'm really glad you liked that scene so much, it was a Good Scene to write. Yes. That is pretty much his motto (I'mma have to remember that tune. It _does_ fit). Bad things. Yes. Sure. Like being lost and not finding Sabo for a solid half a week, perchance? Got'cha, on the following thing, and thanks so much for the favorite and all the praise you shower on the story (and me, I suppose)! Also for the Devil Fruit.**

 **With this fruit I become...the author...of One Piece...I now declare this all canon.**

 **Ah, wait, nope, still don't own One Piece. Very late disclaimer reminder.**

 **AnyMoreBrightIdeasGenius: Thanks!**

 **Stormy Vixen: *finger pistols***

 **aslMeno: Thank you, I certainly will!**

 **GreenDragon03: Thank you!**

 **ClearWolf: Sent you a PM in response. Thanks again for your concern!**

 **Maya-chan2007: I'm glad you like my stories! Surprisingly, I actually don't think that's been asked, inasmuch detail at least. And the answer: come back, no, conversation, ohhhhhhh hell yes. That's been part of the plan since I came up with the idea (I love them too, and I agree). Enjoy!**

 **Sorry again that it took so long; leave a review on your way out so hopefully the next chapter will come out quicker!**


	12. Law is Dragged into This Mess

**Yo. I think I was actually gonna say something, but I forgot it.**

 **Anyways, thanks to everyone following, favoriting, and reviewing! Enjoy~**

* * *

Law was going along with this.

He was actually going along with this.

Why was he going along with this?

…Ah. Right. Because his curiosity trumped his common sense. Dammit.

"I can't believe I'm wasting a wish on you," Law deadpanned to Luffy, irritably rubbing the lamp. Luffy simply beamed at him in response.

"Shishishi!"

Law grumbled curses under his breath as Aeriasky formed.

"Man, can a genie not get any sleep around here?" They yawned widely, then stretched their arms above their head before slumping.

"It's been two days," Law pointed out flatly.

"Yeah, but my naps usually last for, like, a month. I always forget how… _fast-paced_ mortal lives are," they added under their breath.

Law nearly laughed out loud at the sheer irony in that statement (whose fault did the genie think it was that they were being called on so much, anyways?), only barely managing to contain it. He did have an image to uphold, after all, never mind that Straw Hat had smashed that image and scattered it to the four winds. That little fact would remain quietly between the Heart Pirates and the Straw Hat captain.

"Whatever," was what he actually said, and then Law paused for a moment to compose his thoughts. He knew he had to be very careful with his wording - from what he knew of the genie, it would be perfectly in character for them to grant a generic wish such as 'I wish Straw Hat-ya was fully healed' by swapping Straw Hat's body with Law's, and then claim that this was a valid interpretation because Law's body was, after all, in full health.

Law was scarily skilled at understanding twisted logic such as this, particularly after spending the last two and a half days stuck with Luffy.

Heaven help him, he was actually starting to call the boy by name.

"I wish for all of Luffy's physical injuries to be healed as close to his normal state of health as possible." Law spoke carefully and precisely, choosing each word as surgically as he might stitch up a wound. The words didn't flow quite right, but the statement left no loopholes - and _that_ was the important part.

Aeriasky rolled their eyes. "Oh, you're no fun," they grumbled, and snapped their fingers. "I'm going back to my nap."

"Wait!" Luffy called, but Aeriasky had already sulked back into their lamp. "Aw, dammit, again?" he complained. There was the slightest of pauses before the younger captain looked up at Law, a pleased expression on his face. "Hey, you finally remembered!"

Law blinked and abruptly realized he'd called Straw Hat-ya by name out loud. ' _Son of a-'_

"I didn't want to risk screwing up the wish," Law said, whipping up an excuse from thin air as he pasted a coldly superior expression on his face. "If I'm going to waste a wish on something like this, I'd better damn well get it done right."

Luffy - _dammit, Straw Hat-ya_ \- giggled. Law's eye twitched. He reached out and grabbed the younger pirate by the back of his vest. "And now it's time for you to fulfill _your_ end of the deal."

Surgery time.

Oooh, Law was going to enjoy this.

The surgery was wonderfully quiet, not least because Law had removed Luf - Straw Hat's vocal cords when it became evident that the boy was not going to shut up. Idly, Law wondered why he hadn't thought of silencing the young captain in this manner before.

A distant part of his mind sighted down the track of this train of thought, found it littered with connections to Cora-san in Luffy's bearing and manner and _smile_ in addition to the more common association with silence, and promptly noped the fuck out before his actual thoughts got beyond a vague intuitive knowledge.

Aeriasky's magic was extremely interesting. Traces of it were still littered in Straw Hat's system in the form of a sparkling silver dust that coated half-mended bones and still-healing rips. The dust was slowly clearing up on its own, shrinking at perhaps a millimeter per five seconds (possibly slowed by the Devil Fruit effects, as Aeriasky had mentioned their magic did not work well with Devil Fruits; Law wondered if the healing would be instantaneous or merely quicker on a normal person). As the dust vanished, so did the wounds it coated.

It was really quite fascinating to watch. Law even managed to scrape away some of the silver dust into a bottle for later study without impacting Straw Hat-ya's healing too severely. Of course, there was the possibility that the dust would simply vanish, but still.

At length, Law concluded his surgery and returned Straw Hat's vocal cords. He'd filled at least a quarter of a notebook with notes and felt rather satisfied, enough so that he almost didn't mind being called 'Traffy.'

Almost. He wasn't _quite_ that insane yet.

"So can I go save Sabo now?" Straw Hat asked after making a few star-struck remarks about how cool Law's powers were (and Law had most definitely not _preened_ at those remarks. Not more than a little, anyways).

"Wait a day," Law said, almost sounding relaxed in the wake of a very informative surgery, "Allow genie-ya's magic to take its full effect and get some rest. Then, certainly." And once Luffy had gone off to save his brother, Law could _finally_ examine the genie. The idea made him feel almost giddy.

Straw Hat beamed wide. "All right! Thanks, Traffy!" He launched himself forwards and nearly knocked Law over with a hug.

Law had long realized that Luffy was an extremely touchy-feely person, and counteracted this by using Bepo's fluffiness as a shield to keep the rubber captain from getting at him (after, of course, the first mate had assured his captain that he didn't mind being used as a fluffy shield). So this was the first time Law had ever been on the receiving end of one of Luffy's hugs.

And that plus his grin plus Law's earlier train of thought which chose _now_ of all times to resurface from nowhere combined to throw Law into a flashback.

He found himself in the grip of an extremely tall man with a black feathered cloak, a man he knew well - Corazon of the Donquixote Pirates, who for _some_ reason had decided to try and save Law from his deadly disease. He hadn't meant to call the man Cora-san, but it had slipped out, and _dammit_ the man was _way too happy about it._ He'd swept Law up in a crushing hug, beaming, and now Law was violently flailing his small, white-spotted limbs in an attempt to escape. Of course, it was a futile attempt - he was, after all, barely eleven-

All of a sudden he was back in the present, his arms still windmilling wildly in an attempt to break away from a grip that no longer existed.

Luffy stared at him, head cocked to the side, brow furrowed ever-so-slightly. "Traffy? You okay?"

Law found that he was breathing harder than normal. " _Don't-"_ his voice was high-pitched, and he swallowed hard to try and get it under control. "Touch me."

Straw Hat snatched back the hand he'd been reaching out with. "Okay," he said softly.

Law shifted. "Go sleep. You'll be off tomorrow." He turned on his heel and left the room, his shoes clicking loudly on the metal floor.

Tomorrow, and Law would finally be done with the boy who reminded him far, far too much of Cora-san.

He didn't sleep much that night, not that he ever really did in the first place. It was a routine the Heart Pirates had long gotten used to: Law would take some melatonin (read, sleeping pills) and attempt to sleep, get maybe two hours before he woke up (if he was lucky), lay in bed for about fifteen minutes attempting to fall back asleep (an invariably fruitless endeavor), then get up and find the nearest member of the crew to crash with.

Or, more accurately, find the crew cuddlepile and insert himself next to Bepo. Between the first mate's love of skin contact, the lack of heating in the submarine, and the Heart Pirates generally being a cuddly group, the crew would usually grab their blankets and snuggle up next to the Mink in a communal pile of blankets and bodies, which Law joined after his cursory attempt at a full night's sleep.

Inevitably, the touchy-feely captain of the Straw Hat Pirates had discovered the open secret of the Heart Pirate cuddlepile and joined in. Law ended up staring at the boy, inserted snugly between Bepo and Penguin with his rubber limbs wrapped around half the crew, as he tried to figure out where he could squeeze in with his crew. Shachi was on Bepo's other side, held fast by a rubber arm, and Jean Bart was behind them with his arms gathering the crew together like so many stuffed animals, and a small pile of crewmembers blocked the space in front. As far as Law could tell, the only spot he had a chance of squeezing into (that still put him next to Bepo) was right next to (actually, slightly behind) Straw Hat.

He didn't want to touch Straw Hat. Not like that. It was far too close. Law didn't mind being touched, didn't even mind hugs and cuddles and all the other gushy crap, but only, _only_ if it came from people he knew and trusted and was comfortable with. Straw Hat was too similar to Cora-san for comfort.

So now Straw Hat was depriving him of potential sleep, too. Law threw up his hands, grumbled a little, and went to go check on Fire Fist-ya's still empty body. Strangely, he didn't actually feel all that annoyed. The image of Luffy snuggling with Law's crew was actually pretty cute. Damn Law's weakness for awesome and adorable things.

When the morning _did_ come, Straw Hat was up bright and early and demanding breakfast. Or so Law assumed. He wouldn't actually know, since he'd slunk into the galley just as Straw Hat seemed to be finishing his meal (read: Shachi was, judging by his expression, about ready to kick his ass out in order to save food for the rest of them - the Kujas might have been providing them with food, but the Heart Pirates still liked to have meals on their ship sometimes, and Straw Hat would steal everything edible if you didn't stop him).

"Captain!" Half a dozen voices yelled as Law entered, Bepo's chief among them (accompanied by an excited "Traffy!" from the Straw Hat captain). Law waved a hand at his crew, motioning for them to sit down as he took his own seat. Most of them moved to sit next to him while Straw Hat took the opportunity to devour any and all food they'd left behind.

Law rolled his eyes. "Honestly, it's like you haven't seen me in weeks."

"You do tend to hole yourself up sometimes," Penguin pointed out, "and we missed you last night. You didn't join us, and I _know_ you didn't get a full night's sleep."

"Oh? And how do you _know?"_ Law drawled, smirking.

"You're insomniac," at least three voices chorused in deadpan. Law shrugged. They had him there.

"Seriously, cap'n, we got worried," Tsuki said, pushing up her wolf cap by the nose, "An' I'm not 'fraid to admit, kinda freaked. Some a' us thought Straw Hat was you a' first, an' then th' rubber limbs came out. D'you know how… _unsettlin'_ that was?"

"You shrieked," Penguin snickered, poking her in the side. Tsuki elbowed him.

"I did _not,_ tha' was Grizz!"

"Shut up!" Grizz yelped, glaring at Tsuki. Law smirked.

"ALL RIGHT, STRAW HAT, YOU'VE EATEN ENOUGH! OUT!" Shachi yelled from the other end of the galley. The crew around Law snickered - and abruptly stopped when Straw Hat crashed over to their table.

"So I get to go save Sabo now, ne?" Straw Hat asked with a wide beam.

Law sighed. " _Yes,_ Straw Hat-ya. Now you can go save your brother."

"YAY!" Luffy yelled, and lurched forwards to grab Law's sleeve. "Let's go!"

Law yanked himself back amidst indignant exclamations from the other Heart Pirates. He was mildly irritated, but he supposed he _did_ have to show Straw Hat where he'd put the lamp. "Let me eat first. Go say goodbye to Empress-ya or something."

"Oh! Okay!" Straw Hat beamed and bounced out of the room with a quick call of "It's still Luffy by the way!" over his shoulder. There was a collective sigh of relief.

"That guy is _way_ too cheerful," Grizz muttered, crossing his arms.

"You jus' don' like 'im because you was scared last night," Tsuki jibed.

"I was _not!"_

"Then who _was_ shrieking?" Penguin wondered. Grizz spluttered, his face reddening.

Law smiled, leaned back into Bepo's fluffy bulk (the Mink had moved behind him as Luffy bounced out of the room), and listened to the banter of his crew.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Law ate his breakfast and grudgingly went to go find Straw Hat so he could, once and for all, get the hyperactive rubber captain out of his hair.

It took two minutes to find the lamp, ten to track Straw Hat down, and ten more to get him back onto the ship. Empress-ya did not help. At all. Somehow, she'd gotten it through her head that Law was "a rival in love." Law spent at least six of the latter ten minutes detailing to her exactly how many levels of _wrong_ that was.

(For one, Luffy wasn't even his _type._ Law didn't actually know if he _had_ a type, but it certainly wasn't Straw Hat.)

It was a very irate Law that shoved the worn bronze lamp into Luffy's hands and scowled at the soon-resulting genie.

"Stop scowling," were practically the first words out of Aeriasky's mouth, " _I_ should be scowling, I can't get any sleep at all around you lot." They yawned widely. "Make your wish and let's get this over with." For once, Law was in perfect agreement with the genie.

"Kay!" Luffy chirped, "I wish we were where Sabo is!" His hand made a quick flicking motion between himself and Law.

Aeriasky blinked blearily, and then broke out into a wide - _too_ wide - grin that defied the natural confinements of their face. At the same moment, Straw Hat's exact words and _gesture_ clicked in Law's mind.

" _We?!"_ Law blurted out in a mixture of horror, surprise, and quickly growing dread.

The genie's unnatural grin widened even further. "Have a nice trip~" they sang out.

Law's vision became nothing but ice-blue whiteness.

* * *

 **So many Law headcanons in this chapter. So many. I'm sorry.**

 **I lied about the screeching reunions. There were _going_ to be screeching reunions, but the Heart Pirates kinda got in the way. ****But listen okay just look the Heart Pirates are implied to be both Huge Dorks and Totally Tight _and I love them okay fight me._**

 **Also, disclaimer: I have nothing against LawLu. I _like_ LawLu. It's just. Not a thing beyond close friendship in this fic.**

 **Now, then: Review Replies!**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: *finger pistols* Thanks! Looks like I can delete that 'possible' in the summary now, eh?**

 **SarakuHD: He most certainly was not. U know my beta reader actually said, and I quote "please be nice to these kids for once in your life." I give you the same response I gave them: ;3c. Damn, feels so hard you skip Marco entirely. Go back and see him when you've prepared yourself for it, yeah? Luffy's the sort of person that makes humor inevitable and I love him for it. Yes that is the exact reason. Buddy. Bruh. My comrade. Pal. I really hope you enjoy the screaming tearful reunion coming up and tbh I'm surprised you didn't see this coming from a mile away. And yes double-deaths are a thing but Roger has Skillz. And Rouge. Mostly Rouge. Idk what the incident is specifically, I mean, the PJO and HoO crew goes to the Underworld at least three times, take your pick. *thumbs up***

 **Catlover4536: Thanks! The Afterworld's a pretty big place, plenty of cities for everyone. There was a bunch of worldbuilding in my reply to SarakuHD last chapter; maybe PM me if you have more specific questions? I _love_ worldbuilding. Glad you liked the Afterworld (and bro's perfectly fine, don't worry)! Tbh the worldbuilding was easy. Writing all that Koala and Whitebeards angst was the hard part. I actually wrote Day One last. (My dreams are great, aren't they?)**

 **Lady Lily Anne: You are half-correct regarding the klabautermann. Nice to know I got the feels right! Glad you liked last chapter!**

 **ClearWolf: Oh MAN I have. Such things prepared for Merry. SUCH things. Glad you liked it!**

 **Blackthorne Ashe: You know, you can postpone the review for a nap if you want, next time. And yes. Yes they will.**

 **Dhea30: 1) Yes (and yes again). 2) Pfft. Don't worry, it quickly becomes evident that his siblings are, in fact, alive. Honestly, even without Luffy it would've been fairly self-evident, since Ace still looks like Sabo - if he was dead, he'd look like himself, because soul things. 3) Glad you liked the Whitebeards, and that you've adopted my headcanon - I understand the mixed feels. 4) :3c (you can probably delete the 'wrong'; I think the phrase you're looking for is "how did my life end up like this," or something similar). Ahhh, Luffy Logic. I love it. I hadn't really been planning for Law's D to come up, but if I figure out a way to make it relevant, I'll plop it in. 5) Spoiler: Luffy just skips over management altogether. Hah. You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

 **YJV: Thanks!**

 **ynius: And the mad genius continues. Thank you very much for the compliments! Always good to know I'm doing it right!**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: Hopefully your feels for this chapter are something other than rage. *finger guns***

 **the wizards-mafia: 1) Thank you again! 2) THANK YOU ('subtle' tho. That's an interesting choice of words considering I literally told my beta Day One was just "four pages of Koala angst") 3) (I feel u on that) AND THANKS A THIRD TIME (or is it the fourth?) 4) *thumbs up* 5) Heartbreak for everyone! 6) Well technically Luffy's gonna drag Sabo back to life but (SPOILER) Sabo gets to meet the Merry later, so…request accomplished? Soon? (tho, if they still can't set sail when Sabo and Luffy go for good, I'm sure Luffy will take him along!) 7) Ehe, thanks…and no, not at all! I love long reviews, they motivate me!**

 **.**

 **Leave a review on your way out if you can! See you all...uh, later, I guess!**


	13. There are Screeching Reunions

**So! School starts tomorrow. Fun. Not sure how this is going to impact my writing schedule, but I feel it should be noted that it's a thing that is happening.**

 **Thank you to everyone following, favoriting, and reviewing! You're all great, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The last thing Sabo ever expected to happen was for his little brother and some guy to drop out of a swirl of colors while he was taking a stroll in the harbor.

So, naturally, that was _exactly_ what happened.

For a long moment Sabo stood there staring, his lips soundlessly mouthing 'what the shit?' as Luffy and the other guy picked themselves up from the ground, arguing. Said argument was broken off the second Luffy laid eyes on him and delightedly shrieked, "SABO!"

Sabo was promptly bowled over by the hyperactive rubber ball that was his little brother. He ended up sprawled on the ground, being furiously hugged, Luffy's rubber limbs wrapped around him at least three times. Sabo instinctively hugged Luffy back, not fully comprehending the situation; his brain was mostly stuck on a loop of 'what the - why - how - huh-?'

"Sabo-! You're Sabo, right?" Luffy pulled his face back from where he'd buried it in Sabo's chest, tilting his head so far to the side it was almost at a right angle. "Not Ace-in-Sabo? Ah, wait, no, Ace had his hat 'n stuff, and Koala…you are Sabo, right?" he repeated.

That snapped Sabo out of it, more or less. He whacked his little brother on the back of the head with a Haki coated hand. "What the hell are you doing here?!" Sabo demanded, his heart going cold with horror. "It's been barely a week! Don't tell me you died _already!_ If you - I swear I'm going to murder the guy who sent you down here before I kill you _again!"_

" _Ow,_ Sabo!" Luffy whined, tears in his eyes, "I'm not dead! _You_ are, stupid Sabo, that's why we had to come _get_ you!"

" _What?!"_

The other guy cleared his throat. "Your siblings were, to put it lightly, understandably distressed at your death. They pressured Genie-ya for information and found a loophole which would allow them to enter the Afterworld, retrieve your soul, and return to our own world."

Luffy, still clinging to Sabo, nodded vigorously in agreement before burying his face in Sabo's chest again and sobbing. Sabo found himself stunned by this concise explanation - the rush of emotions it invoked simply overwhelmed him. He stared down at Luffy, hugging him closer. The only coherent thought he could form was, ' _Well, there goes my vest. Shame, I liked this one.'_

Sabo pulled himself away from the mess of feelings to focus on a simpler question. "And who are _you?"_ he asked the other man.

"That's Traffy!" Luffy offered, his voice muffled by Sabo's vest before he pulled his face away again. "He's a doctor! He's keeping Ace's body so you can use it when you get back and he's helping me save you!"

"It's Trafalgar Law!" the other man snapped, "And I never agreed to this!"

Sabo blinked. 'Keeping Ace's body.' No, that wasn't creepy at _all._ Though to be fair, it did sound like his siblings had asked him to. Sabo tore his eyes from Luffy and looked at the man; really _looked,_ not just glancing.

He was tall. And dark. And - ohshitfuck _no,_ that was _not_ going to be literally the third word Sabo used to describe a stranger he was meeting for the first time, _particularly_ because it was so perfectly cliché.

Even if it _did_ fit.

Sabo shook his head a little to clear the thought and tried again.

The man was tall, and his skin was at the darker end of tan, true. His eyes were gray with odd yellow flecks, deep bags under them, and what little of his black hair Sabo could see - namely, his sideburns and goatee - held a bluish tint. He wore two gold hoop earrings in each ear and fluffy-looking spotted hat on his head, and his blue jeans had the same spots. His yellow-and-black hoodie had the oddest Jolly Roger Sabo had ever seen on it, and the tattoos on the back of his hands and arms were like lesser versions of it.

And yes, fine - he was tall, dark, and handsome.

Sabo placed where he'd heard of the man - Trafalgar Law, Surgeon of Death and captain of the Heart Pirates. He'd been at the auction house with Luffy, back before this whole mess had started.

And Luffy had nicknamed him Traffy, to the man's apparent immense annoyance.

Well, Sabo was always up for annoying people. He wouldn't just piggyback off of his brother's nickname, though. Sabo had _creative integrity.*_

"I suppose some thanks are in order then, Tiger Lily," Sabo said with an innocent smile as he got to his feet, Luffy unwinding at least his legs from him. Law stared at him with a dumbfounded expression that turned to horror before he buried his face in his hands.

"Oh, lord, you're as bad as he is," came his muffled voice. Sabo and Luffy both laughed.

"Anyways _Sabo!"_ Luffy let him free from the hug and bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly. "Ace and Koala are already looking for you, so we gotta find them first, and then we go back home and stuff!"

Sabo did a double-take. "Ace and Koala-?!" Okay, yes, fine, Law had said _siblings,_ but how long had Koala and Ace _been_ here if that was the case?

"Yeah, they made me stay behind. Meanies," Luffy pouted.

"Don't tell me _they've_ died…" Sabo said, only half-joking. A desperate worry grew in his stomach, knotting his throat. If they had died, Sabo didn't know _what_ he'd do; though, all evidence suggested they'd dropped out of a color swirl, too.

"Nah, they got Sky to make 'em a portal," Luffy said, waving a hand dismissively like those simple words didn't cause Sabo to nearly collapse with relief. "It's gonna stay up till we go back."

Well, that was handy. Sabo blinked. "Sky?"

"Aeriasky," Law elaborated.

"Yeah, them!" Luffy nodded with a beam.

"That's…oddly helpful of them," Sabo remarked, his brow furrowing. From his experience with the genie - who'd granted a _memory-restoring_ wish with a _body swap -_ this seemed far too kind.

"Fire Fist-ya and Koala-ya covered it in their wording," Law drawled, smirking, "Additionally, Genie-ya appears to be terrified of them."

Sabo cocked an eyebrow. "Huh. That's an...interesting development." How in the world had his siblings managed _that?_

Luffy tugged on Sabo's arm. "Sabo, c'mon! Let's go find them!" The rubber boy turned around. "We gotta…gotta…go…" Luffy's voice trailed off. A spike of concern shot through Sabo.

"Luffy? What is it?" He asked, hoping that would prompt his brother to snap out of his trance.

"Go…going…" Luffy mumbled, not snapping out of it at all. His eyes were focused on something in the distance. Sabo's concern grew.

"Luffy?"

Law's brow furrowed when Sabo's second attempt prompted no response but further mumbling. "Straw Hat-ya?"

"Going…Merry…"

Sabo and Law exchanged baffled looks. That was the most nonsensical combination of words Sabo had heard in some time. Had Luffy's brains been rattled by the Afterworld or-?

"Merry…Merry! IT'S MERRY!" Luffy screamed out, his face shining with pure joy, as delighted as when he'd first said Sabo's name. Suddenly, Sabo understood - Merry was someone Luffy knew…that had died. " _MEEEERRRRRYYYYY!"_ Luffy took off at a run, heading down the harbor. Sabo looked, and blinked in confusion. No one was there…?

His eyes caught on the anchored ships, and then his breath caught with understanding. "Klabautermann," Sabo said, "Luffy's ship was a klabautermann." He must have had another before the _Sunny…_

Law glanced at him, looked around, and began walking in the opposite direction. "Well, I suppose we'd better start looking for your other siblings-"

Sabo's arm snapped out and grabbed him by the back of his hoodie. "Wrong way, Tiger Lily," he said, following Luffy.

" _Fuck."_

* * *

 _Merry Merry Merry Merry Merry_ \- It was _Merry,_ she was _here,_ and Luffy was absolutely _thrilled._ He didn't have the slightest clue how or why the Straw Hats' beloved first ship was here, but she _was!_ Oh, man, Luffy was going to have to tell Usopp later, the sniper was going to be _so_ happy to know that _Merry_ was okay! _And_ that she was going to be there when they died, ready to carry them for a new adventure!

" _MERRY!"_ Luffy screamed again, stretching his rubber arms to wrap around _Merry's_ mast. "Gum-Gum ROCKET!" Luffy slammed into her mast with a full-bodied hug. He could feel sharp wetness poking at his eyes, but he didn't bother trying to hold his tears back for once. Ace couldn't be mad at him for happy-crying, and dammit, he was going to happy-cry, it was _Merry!_ " _Merry,_ you're here! You're really really here! I missed you so much!"

"Luffy…?" A vaguely familiar voice mumbled faintly. Then, much louder, "LUFFY!"

The ship seemed to _glow,_ and then something rocketed out of the mast so hard Luffy let go in sheer surprise, and then sent him sliding clear across the deck. Luffy looked down and found a girl clinging to his waist with a huge smile and wide brown eyes and skin the color of _Merry's_ wood. She was pretty small, like, the size of Granny Kokoro's granddaughter, Chimney? And she wore this white cap, but under it her hair was black and super-curly, just like Usopp's, only a little bit longer.

"Luffy, it's you, it's you!"

"Yeah!" Luffy laughed, and so did the girl, her smile matching Luffy's. Actually, it looked a _lot_ like his smile. "Shishishi - so, who are you?"

The girl blinked. "Oh! Sorry, I wasn't thinking, you must not recognize me!" She let go of him and stepped back, still beaming. She dusted off her oversized green coat and adjusted her lopsided belt, grabbing the hammer that hung from it and raising it in a weird kinda salute. "I'm the klabautermann of the _Going Merry!_ Or, in other words, I _am Merry!"_

Luffy blinked, mouthing her words until they actually made sense in his head. "You're _Merry?"_ He repeated.

"Yes!" She laughed.

"MERRY!" Luffy screamed, and swept her up in a hug.

"LUFFY!" she screamed back, throwing her arms around his neck. They spun together, both of them shrieking with uncontrollable happiness. Luffy hadn't felt this much pure _joy_ since he'd first found out Sabo was alive.

"Oh!" Merry said suddenly, pulling back a little bit to look Luffy in the face (though she didn't stop hugging him, and Luffy kept his grip, too), "Luffy! You'd better be the Pirate King! I already told Jackson you wouldn't be here until you were!"

"Shishi!" Luffy rubbed the back of his head with one hand. "Sorry, Merry, not yet, but I'm not staying anyways! I just came to get Sabo! Then I'm gonna go back!"

Merry blinked. "Who's _Sabo?"_

"He-"

"Luffy!" Sabo's voice called. Oh, Sabo must have followed him.

Luffy rushed over to the railing. "He's right there!" He pointed for Merry, then beamed widely and waved. "Hi, Sabo! Hi, Traffy!"

"'Lo, Lu!" Sabo waved back with a smile.

"I give up," Traffy deadpanned. Sabo had his other hand locked around Traffy's shirt.

Merry let go of Luffy and sat on the railing. "New crew?" she asked.

"Nah, Sabo's my brother and Traffy's a friend."

Merry blinked. "Eh? You have more brothers than Ace?"

"Shishishi, just Sabo!" Luffy grinned. Then he paused, considering. Koala probably wouldn't like being left out. She wasn't a brother, but she was still _family,_ Merry should be told about her. "Oh, and a sister, Koala!"

"Huh," Merry said, cocking her head at Sabo and Traffy.

"So this used to be your ship, Luffy?" Sabo called up.

Merry scrambled to her feet. "I still am! Or will be. Something. _Going Merry,_ ship of the future Pirate King, at your service!"

Sabo grinned. "Nice to meet you!"

Traffy said nothing, but gave her a nod. Luffy was glad everyone was getting along so well.

"You coming down yet, Lu?" Sabo asked. Merry grabbed Luffy's arm before he could reply.

"Hold on, I want you to meet Jackson!"

"Jackson?" Luffy asked, tilting his head. Merry had said something about him a minute ago, right? "Oh, the guy you told about me being Pirate King?"

Merry nodded. "Yep! I like him, he's my friend. Come on!" She hopped off the railing and tugged him to the other side of the ship, then pointed. "He's over there - oh, I've always wanted - Luffy can you Rocket us over?" She looked up at him hopefully. Luffy beamed.

"Kay!" He looked where she was pointing first - and saw a large ship with three masts, the sails raised just like _Merry's_ sails were. There was a cannon where the Luffy's special seat would have been on a normal ship, with mermaids next to it. "Oh! Is Jackson a kla - kalbat - a ship, too?"

"Mm-hm, a klabautermann," Merry nodded.

"Right, that's what I said." Merry laughed at that, and Luffy rushed back to the other side of the ship. "Sabo, Traffy! I'm going over there!"

"We'll meet you there!" Sabo answered with a wave, and started to drag Traffy towards the ship. He'd moved his grip to Traffy's arm instead of his shirt.

"Kay!" Luffy called, and then ran back and grabbed Merry, tucking her under his arm. "Gum-Gum…ROCKET!"

Merry screamed as they hurtled through the air, just like the rest of Luffy's nakama did. Unlike Luffy's other nakama, she had a huge grin on her face, too.

Luffy bounced onto the deck of the ship and put Merry down. She stumbled, grinning dazely, and let out a weak 'wooo!'

"Shishishi~" It looked like she'd had fun, that was good!

"HEY!" a voice yelled, "WHAT THE HELL'RE YOU…oh, Merry?"

Luffy craned his head up to find where the voice was coming from. There was a boy about Merry's size leaning out of the crow's nest, and when Luffy looked at him, the boy met his eyes and scowled for a moment before beginning to climb down the rope rigging.

"Jackson!" Merry called, waving, "This is Luffy!"

The boy blinked, dangling from the ropes. "Eh? Your captain?"

He let go and dropped the rest of the way, landing soundly on his feet. Luffy tilted his head. He looked kinda like Ace, if Ace had yellow skin and sharp teeth and no freckles. And his clothes were like Merry's, except his coat was red and his cap was brownish-orange and his hair was straight under his cap instead of curly. But he still reminded Luffy of Ace.

Jackson came close to Luffy and circled him, looking him up and down, before he came to a stop in front and showed his sharklike teeth in a wide grin. Luffy grinned back. "You're the Pirate King, then?"

"He's not _staying,"_ Merry piped up before Luffy could say something,"He's just gonna get his brother and go."

Jackson blinked. And blinked some more. Luffy was starting to wonder if Merry had broken him when Jackson suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

"GAHAHAHAHA! You're as bad as _my_ captain!" Jackson grinned at Luffy again. "Roger was planning to break out and haunt some Marine to the end of his days when Rouge got down here! She only barely talked him outta it!"

"Eh?" Luffy leaned to the side in confusion. Weren't Roger and Rouge… "Ace's parents? You know them?"

"Huh?" Jackson blinked at him, his head cocking to the side. "Captain's kid? _You_ know him?"

"Ace is my brother!"

Jackson mouthed something and then made a series of weird hand gestures. "But - you - then - I thought - Rouge died after she had Ace?"

"You and Ace aren't brothers by blood?" Merry asked, looking at Luffy.

"Nope!"

"Oh, there we go, the world's making sense again," Jackson sighed. "Captain's gonna _love_ you." He grinned. "I dunno if Merry's told you yet, by the way; I'm _Oro Jackson,_ klabautermann of the _last_ Pirate King's ship."

Luffy's eyes went wide. The Pirate King's ship. He was _on_ the Pirate King's ship! " _Coooool!"_

"Luffy!" Sabo's voice called - looked like he'd caught up again - "You done making friends yet?"

"Nope!" Luffy yelled back. "Just a min-ute!" He grinned at Jackson. "Monkey D. Luffy! I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"

"Yeah!" Merry cheered.

"Wouldn't expect any less from Merry's captain." Jackson leaned against the mast. "An East Blue caravel making it half the way down Paradise…you're one-of-a-kind, you know that, Mers?" He grinned at Merry, and she grinned back.

"I _do_ know," she laughed.

Luffy smiled wide. Merry was happy here. He'd gotten to see her again, and he was happy, but he still had to save Sabo and stuff. "Merry!" he called out, and she looked up at him.

He gave her his biggest smile. "I gotta go find Ace and Koala now. I'll see you again!" _Some other time._

Merry's eyes went wide. "Eh? Ace died too? I thought you were just getting Sabo!"

Luffy blinked. "I _am._ Ace isn't dead, why would he be?"

Jackson squinted at him. "Are _you_ dead?"

"Nooo…?" Luffy tilted his head. Why would he be dead?...Was it because this was supposed to be dead-people land?

"What," Merry said.

"What?" Luffy asked, starting to tilt his body to the side.

"What…" Jackson lifted a hand and waved it vaguely.

" _What,"_ Merry said again, louder this time.

"Luffy, what's going on?" Sabo called from the dock below, quickly followed by, "Get _back_ here, Tiger Lily."

Luffy got the feeling he should probably explain things again.

* * *

 **listen okay i was going to get to corazon but the reunions went on longer than i meant and things happened and now we're going over to ace and koala so.**

 **oops?**

 **I just have. Way too many things that I want to do. Man, we're all gonna be in FLoaB hell (or the Afterworld, rather) for a while, huh?**

 *** _Hah,_ I bastardized this nickname from Anjelle. Well, she used Tulip Lily, but still, irony.**

 **Also, Law's description is how I merge anime and manga coloring. *shrugs***

 **Review Replies!**

 **SarakuHD: …Yeah, that's a pretty good description. BASICALLY. Well, Aeriasky just took it as with Sabo, so there you go. Law has been lost to the ravages of KASL insanity. Poor fucking dork. ALSO I AGREE ABOUT PLATONIC ROMANCES. Yes. We have. *waves* Goodbye, feels. haHA no not yet that's for when Ace and Koala find him. Sabo's gonna get his ass kicked. Again. Oh my god that shitty joke is great. Dude my favorite headcanons for Rouge and Roger's relationship are 'Rouge can kick Roger's ass and he loves her so much.' They are the epitome of the 'hold my flower' meme. In my headcanons. Rest in fucking pieces, go ahead down to Sailors' Refuge and see if you can catch a glimpse of anyone you know. You're welcome~**

 **ynuius: They're. The pronoun you're looking for is 'they're.' Thank you very much, I'm glad you like Aeriasky (and the story)!**

 **JarOfIdeas: Thanks. Aaaaand I made up the reasoning in Day Five, but hey, at least we have 'canon' reasoning now, yeah? I'm glad you liked the chapters! Law being like Luffy…hoooo boy, there's a thought. I wonder if anyone's written about it yet?**

 **…I know what I'm doing after the Triple Switch Saga! Remind me to hit you up as a co-writer.**

 **Dhea30: I dunno but it sure makes for good entertainment. You are entirely correct on your guess for Sky's reasoning. Weeeeell, we're gonna meet Cora-san. He's the only one in Sailors' Refuge. Law's parents are in another city. (That. Would have been an amazing scene. Fuck.) The second one is correct and I shit you not I partially rewrote part of this chapter because that is just perfect. Well, I mean, if you wanna chat about it directly, just PM me!**

 **The wizards-mafia: I'ma give you the same advice I gave Blackthorn Ashe; you can postpone your review for a nap next time. Thanks! No, actually, you haven't, but I'm glad you do. Hope you enjoyed! (The hellraising [nice pun] comes later. After screams and tears. And yes. Yes they are.)**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: AYYYYY. GOOD.**

 **.**

 **Please leave a review on your way out! Thank you for reading!**


	14. Ace and Koala are Tired

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!1!**

 **I'M SO SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG SCHOOL IS VERY STRESSFUL AND I WAS GOING? TO HAVE MORE? BUT NAH SON. NOT WITH SCHOOL. IT TOOK ME MONTHS TO TYPE UP THIS MUCH LMAO**

 **hopefully I'll have more and sooner but that's not fucking likely wow i hate school whatever happened to liking school that used to be a thing**

 **OH WAIT STRESS HAPPENED**

 ***deep breath***

 **Yeah. So. *cough* That's. That's why I've been near dead. Please take this, Ace and Koala are tired and so am I.**

* * *

Ace nudged the door open with his foot. Koala kicked it the rest of the way. The two of them, bleary-eyed from lack of sleep, staggered into the hotel room they were renting and flopped onto their respective beds with matching groans of exhaustion.

"I concede the point," Ace moaned into his pillow.

"What?" Koala asked groggily from the other bed. Ace rolled onto his back, not bothering to move his hat out the way.

"I said, I concede the point," he repeated.

" _Hah,"_ Koala said weakly, with only the barest hint of triumph in her voice.

The 'point' was that Sailors' Refuge was huge, and searching all night was not going to make them any more likely to find Sabo. _Less_ likely, even, Koala had said, since he'd probably be asleep. She'd brought it up when it first got dark, when Ace still wanted to search for Sabo. He'd ignored it, and she hadn't tried to make him listen, so they'd gone on to search throughout the night (although it had turned into a running background argument to take their minds off of…darker thoughts).

'It was a very stupid decision,' Izo's voice said dryly. Ace was tired enough to agree with him. It. Whatever.

'It made sense at the time,' Haruta's voice muttered mutinously.

'It made sense because we were hyped up on worry,' Sabo's mental voice pointed out. 'We're too tired to properly worry-'

'Ergo, we can acknowledge it was a stupid decision,' Law's voice finished with a mental nod.

'And yet, you still won't shut up,' Ace thought at them, slightly annoyed but too tired to be properly irked. Observation and Logic really went hand-in-hand…

Aaaaand now he was imagining his brother and Surgeon Edgelord holding hands. Stupid brain. Ace threw an arm over his eyes and groaned.

"Seconded," Koala said in response to his moan, her voice slightly muffled. Maybe her face was buried in her pillow. "I need sleeeeep…"

"Me, too," Ace answered.

"Ace?" Koala said, her voice no longer muffled - she must've raised her head or rolled over or something.

"Yeah?" he responded, letting the arm over his eyes flop onto the bed.

"I didn't want an answer."

'Oooh, someone's grouchy,' Thatch's voice said teasingly in Ace's mind.

"Sor-ree," Ace grumbled out loud, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up and take one of your damn naps," Koala growled, only half-playfully, and hurled a pillow at him.

Ace shoved the pillow over his face and rolled back onto his stomach. Yeah. A nap would be good. He closed his eyes and was asleep almost at once.

A few hours later, his eyes snapped open and he bolted upright in bed.

" _Koala,"_ Ace all but yelled, scrambling over to the other bed and shaking his sister, "Koala, get up."

"Ngh - what?" Koala asked, cracking an eye open.

"My Luffy senses are tingling, we gotta move now!"

"Wha-? Ace, Luffy's with Law, healing-"

"I _know_ that," Ace said, "but that doesn't mean my Luffy sense is turned off."

Actually, his Luffy senses weren't even related to Luffy - not entirely, at least - it was just the sudden, overwhelming urge that something impossibly lucky or far too coincidental was about to happen. Once you'd known Luffy long enough, it was very easy to associate Ace's little brother with that kind of phenomena.

Ace tried explaining this to Koala as they made their way outside, with Marco or Law or Izo's voices occasionally tossing out suggestions when Ace found himself at a loss for words. Koala, however, seemed to being either spacing out or still half asleep. Ace didn't think she was getting it.

Eventually he just muttered "You'll see," as they stepped out the hotel doors. The two of them stood there awkwardly for several long moments, unsure of what to do.

"I'll see, huh?" Koala said, raising an eyebrow. Ace scowled and shoved her lightly. She grinned and punched him in the arm - and froze up for a millisecond.

That meant he had unwittingly reminding her of Sabo. Again. Dammit. Ace _hated_ it when he did that. It hurt when he did that - hurt her by making her forget that it wasn't Sabo she was with, hurt him by reminding him that he was in Sabo's body (and that he was getting _used_ to it, accepting it, the sound of his own voice fading from his mind), and then just plain _hurt._ If they weren't careful-

Well, one time it had happened and Koala had frozen for almost thirty seconds, and Ace had tried to fix it and only ended up reminding her of Sabo even _more,_ and they'd gotten trapped in a feedback loop of _pain_ that ended with both of them in a full-out breakdown and only been broken off because Law had shown up at the right moment.

Except. This time, after Koala relaxed, she froze up again a moment later, and Ace had been careful not to do _anything._ That meant it was something else. And the moment dragged _on,_ until Ace finally got a clue and thought to follow her gaze.

Fuckin' _thanks_ Marco, you snarky chicken bastard. Maybe clue him in a little earlier next time.

'You're welcome.'

'Shut up.'

Ace found his gaze settling on a red-skinned Fishman with a familiar symbol on his chest - the same one Jinbe had - the mark of the Sun Pirates. Yeah, made sense Koala knew him. Ace had noticed she was pretty close with Jinbe (and Hack, too), and generally seemed to like Fishmen period.

(When they had been trading stories on the _Sunny,_ Sabo had once jokingly referred to "Koala's twenty-seven uncles on Fishman Island," and she'd punched him, corrected the number, then completely diverted the topic. Some part of Ace's brain had picked it up and tucked it away.

('No, I don't want to hear which part, don't even.')

Ace pulled himself out of his mind and nudged Koala. "Found someone you knew?"

Her hand found his arm and gripped it, tight enough to make him wince. "That's Fisher Tiger," Koala said in a near-whisper that was almost reverent, "he saved me from Mariejois."

Ace's eyes widened. Koala had been a slave?

'Shit, her past is as dangerous as ours…' Thatch's voice was almost a whisper.

Had the four siblings never been pirates, never been Revolutionaries, they would still be wanted - Ace and Luffy for their heritage, Koala and Sabo for their histories; Gold Roger, Monkey D. Dragon, slave, escaped noble. It was another bit of information about Koala that reinforced Ace's subconscious feeling that _she belonged with them._

Ace nudged Koala forwards. "Talk to him," he said gently, then quickly added, "if you want, I mean."

Koala, still gripping his arm, gave him a wide-eyed look and swallowed hard before trying to smile. "Come with?"

"Sure," Ace said, flashing a good-natured grin at his sister to try and put her at ease. Her wobbly smile firmed into something more genuine. Koala took a deep breath, let go of Ace's arm, and approached the Fishman, Ace two steps behind her.

Briefly, Ace wondered if he would have reacted like this at the opportunity to speak to his mother, the woman who had given her life for his own. That thought turned into an uncomfortable reminder that Sabo's actions at Marineford had paralleled those of Ace's mother.

'You know,' the Koala-voice in Ace's mind said in a faux-casual tone, 'we actually _might_ run into Rouge.'

Shit. That was true.

(After spending more time with Koala, her mental voice had strayed from Snark and Fight Me until she had joined Izo's in Common Sense.)

Ace shivered minutely, a twist in his gut rippling out through the rest of his body ( _Sabo's,_ Sabo's body, don't forget that, Ace) before he shook off the thought.

Koala was hesitantly reaching out a hand. She flinched back before she touched the Fishman, then glanced back at Ace - 'for support, probably' (yeah, no shit, Izo?). He smiled at her and gave her a thumbs-up. She returned the smile, looked back, and tapped Fisher Tiger on the shoulder.

* * *

 **I've had these responses written for AGES so if you don't recall what i'm responding to don't fucking worry neither did I at first.**

 **Dhea30: YOU GUYS NEED TO STOP DOING THIS TO YOURSELVES but omg thank you for the long review! The word you want is 'torn,' but other than that you got it! Please don't die that was never my intention and then I wouldn't get to read your wonderful reviews. (Law (and I) recommend 1 mg melatonin for sleep. That's what I use, at least.) tbh I bastardized that nickname from Anjelle. You could use either "turn out" or "end up" for that phrase, not both tho. And that is exactly what he's like. I dunno for sure if it's gonna be SaboLaw but I'm certainly leaning toward it! Glad you like the klabautermann! And uh, I'm not totally sure what's gonna happen when they meet Roger (you _know_ it's gonna happen) but I am gonna try my damnedest for it to end with Roger adopting Luffy and Rouge being all "Roger no." (That is a good headcanon I like it.) The Afterworld will never be prepared for the friendship of Roger and Luffy. Ever. (I'mma try and sneak that in there) I still look forward to your PMs!**

 **ynius: Ahh, the feels. I imagine them as kids. Not sure where he was jealous, exactly - but I'm glad you liked it!**

 **Keenyeah: Thank you!**

 **Guest - Saraku, did you log out on accident again?: Luffy is very good at giving the world a collective heart attack. And his siblings are _very_ protective. I love this fucking family too. That is gonna be the BEST story. Law is Trapped. He really did. Thank you! I loved writing that scene! AMAZING. Trust me I'mma do my damnedest to get Ace to see those three. Also Thatch. 'What' is a very useful word. Sabo always ends up getting his ass kicked at family reunions, apparently. I'm glad you like it! Dammit Saraku that _is_ you - I will attempt to remember the shitty joke, remind me about it when part 3 comes out. Oh, Roger was totally a badass. Rouge was just more of one. Rouge kicking everyone's ass and taking control of the ship is going in my headcanons. Here's a fic rec for ya; read 'Amphitrite,' it's a One Piece fic and where I got my 'Rouge can kick Roger's _ass_ ' headcanon. Enjoy your stay~ And yes. Heartshatterings (I'm using Law's POV when we find Cora AND WE'RE ALL GONNA CRY). And as always, you're welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed!**

 **anaisonfire: Go on down to Sailors' Refuge, see if you can spot anyone you know. Glad I'm doing good! I KNOW, MY SCHOOL SUCKS. Pfft. What?**

 **BedofRoses1989: Thank you! I'm glad you liked all of it, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Blackthorn Ashe: Pity the death surgeon. Ohh yeah dammit that would have been a good description; but Bepo's _species_ is Mink, it's explained in the Zou arc. Luffy never plans anything, stuff just sees to turn out that way. Good point, good point. Next Review: you seem to have liked this chapter. Good...and probably, yeah.**

 **ClearWolf: Got'cha, about the review. Trust me, _he_ thought he would be too. Aeriasky is too tired to think of ways to use this and yes, getting rid of Law was its own reward. Glad you liked the klabautermann! Hope you enjoyed!**

 **UnderTakerxXxMadnesS: Thank you!**

 **JarOfIdeas: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! And no, no switching, just an AU where Cora didn't die and Law ended up far too much like Luffy for anyone's comfort. They hit it off the second they meet and proceed to drive everyone around them insane with their combined never-ending cheer. Thanks for your well-wishes!**

 **the wizards-mafia: Man, you're gonna exhaust the English language soon. The klabutermänner are currently the Single Best Idea I've had for this story and I'm glad everyone likes them! (Hope you enjoyed!)**

 **The Utterly Fabulous Z: *bows* Thank you! Glad you liked it so much!**

 **AzureLazuli: THANK YOU! You are completely yes on all accounts in your first paragraph which makes like no sense but just thank you I love you. As for questions - skipping the bit about Merry, that's 1) a spoiler but 2) no. Luffy has at least three "hello"s from dead loved ones to give the crew and tbh if you wanna write that when this is all over I will 100% love you for eternity. Full endorsement.**

 **Bluejay Blaze: It's been a while, good to hear from you! Leave the feels, it's not like they're going anywhere.**

 **AvaTheDarkLord: B) the feels are everywhere and you'll be waiting a bit longer, I'm afraid.**

 **So that's that done. Well folks, hope you enjoyed, leave a review on the way out, next time on FLoaB the Whitebeard pirates show up. Dead ones. also, reunions.**

 **Byeeeeeeee**


	15. Interlude: Kuina

**AN: I know. Guys holy shit I know. It's been nearly a year. I am. So so sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long.**

 **A lot of stuff happened, between school and...Other Things that I would rather not talk about. It's not that I lost interest, but I couldn't work up the motivation to work on this.**

 **I have a bunch of review replies stored, but they aren't time appropriate anymore, so. Forget that.**

 **Thank you, all of you, for reading and sticking around. To YJV in particular, who PMed me, I'm sorry I fell through on you there.**

 **I have no idea how much more I'll be able to post, and I know this isn't quite a proper chapter. But I am trying, and I have some inspiration back! I will make an attempt at wrapping up the last cliffhanger.**

 **In the meantime, if anyone wants to adopt this story, PM me for consideration. Again, I have no idea how much more I'll be able to produce. I will turn over the notes I have and** ** _happily_** **beta read for anyone who adopts it, but I don't know if I'll be able to do it myself.**

 **In the meantime, I am not dead. Have a scene that we wouldn't be able to get to in the main storyline.**

* * *

Far from Sailors' Refuge, a quarter across that sprawling world of the dead, there lay a shrine.

It was not a shrine in the traditional sense, where one left offerings to the gods or the memory of the dead. It was, in fact, the reverse. It was a shrine where one came to remember the living.

There was one like it in every city of the Afterworld, hidden in all the forests and tucked away in the unmoving ships. It was not by any means a central place for the city in which it lay. It was, in fact, doubtful that the people of this particular city knew where it lay.

Nevertheless, within the shrine there was a girl. A girl, meditating, and a sword, laid across her lap.

If you tried hard enough in the Shrine to the Living, you could get a sense of the people you'd left behind. The girl did this often, yearning to connect with the boy who'd sworn to be her rival.

She'd done it so often, in fact, that when the boy's sword had died bravely in battle, it had been waiting for her in the Shrine. As he had taken up her sword, so too did she take up his.

She thought it was rather appropriate.

The girl sighed, lifting the sword from her lap as she came out of her meditative trance. She unsheathed it and held it parallel in front of her, giving it a considerate look.

"How do you think he's doing," she asked, "Yubashiri?"

The sword hummed, the vibrations rippling down its silver blade to the hilt. The girl, who had long learned the art of sword-speaking over her years in the city of swordsmen (and women, and also that one contingent of nonbinary wielders), could easily divine its response.

' _You know as well as I do,'_ Yubashiri told her, ' _that he is fine and well, Kunia.'_

Kuina sighed. "Yeah, I do," she said, "but I worry about that moron."

' _As do I,'_ the sword answered with a distinct ripple of sympathy. Kunia laughed.

"He's come so far from the squirt who could never win against me," she told Yubashiri, "but I've learned much, too. When I see him again, who do you think will win?"

The sword vibrated a considering note. ' _I think,'_ it said, ' _that such a question is the same as asking who might win in a fight between Dracule Mihawk and the man he defeated for the title. It is, after all, that man who you are training under.'_

"You think it'll be Zoro, then," Kunia said, laughter in her voice.

Yubashiri made a distinctly smug hum. ' _I do have pride in my old master.'_

Kuina laughed once again. "I'm proud of him, too," she said happily, picking up the sheath. "Come on," the girl told her katana, "let's go beg a lesson off of the old man."

Yubashiri vibrated consent, and Kuina slid it in the sheath. She stood, hung the sword at her waist, and dusted herself off before bowing to the altar in the center of the shrine-a katana's stand, with no katana. The place where Yubashiri had been gifted to her upon its death. "See you later, Zoro."

And Kuina left the Shrine of the Living to continue her tutelage under her world's last Greatest Swordsman.

* * *

 **Again, thanks to everyone who stuck around. PM me about adoption.  
**

 **I'll see if I can wrap up the cliffhanger.**


	16. There is a Reunion, and Almost a Fight

**Guess who's somehow not dead?**

 **I. Somehow, Miraculously. Managed to churn out a chapter. Adoption is still fairly likely, but _fuck_ man I got _something!_ That's better than I've done in months.**

 **Thank you so so so so so much to all the people who reviewed this and stuck around, and _thank you_ in particular to ChiakiAngel, who had the _incredible_ luck and timing to send a review at exactly the right time to coincide with my motivation to Do Shit.**

 **Which uh. Usually happens in the middle of the night. It's like two o'clock in th' morning and I saw the review at twelve.**

 _ **But it got all of you something so YAAAAAAAAAY!**_

 **And now, we return to our very dusty barely-revived irregularly scheduled viewing of For Love of A Brother.**

 **Which has not been remotely beta'd. So like. Grammar/spelling corrections and janky phrasing notes are appreciated. I wrote this at midnight.**

* * *

Koala was shaking.

She wasn't sure how visible it was, but she, at least, felt herself shaking as Fisher Tiger - her savior, her father-figure, her inspiration - turned around.

His expression was vaguely annoyed; there was no instant recognition. A part of her had thought there would be, and the lack of it sent a pang through her gut. "What?" Tiger said, his tone the same as his face; vaguely annoyed, and with a sharp, almost wary edge.

Koala swallowed hard. She was shaking harder. _He didn't recognize her after all, didn't know her didn't know her didn't know her -_ but - "Tiger-san? Do - do you remember me?"

Tiger blinked, the annoyance in his face shifting closer to confusion as he looked carefully at her. "I don't think I…" he paused, the light of realization flickering in his eyes. "Wait...it couldn't be Koala?"

Koala felt her face light up, her heart swelling with joy. He _did_ know her! "Yes! Yes, it's me!"

Tiger laughed, loud and strong. It lifted Koala's spirits even higher - she remembered her time with the Sun Pirates, the first time in years it had felt like she'd had family, surrounded by the warmth and laughter of the fishman, and Tiger laughing so loud she could feel it in her bones - "You've gotten big, haven't you?" He said.

She laughed with him, the memories making her laugh louder and her heart lighter. "I guess so!" Remembered the promise she'd given him so long ago. "Tiger-san - I told the - I told them about you. I told them how good you were!" They hadn't all listened, but she'd told them anyways, and when they still wouldn't listen to her, "I joined the Revolutionary Army, Tiger-san, I'm working, working to make a better world-"

There was a strange look in Tiger's eyes. Koala forced herself to bring her rambling to a stop, and waited for him to speak.

She…wanted him to be proud. More than anything. Sabo still burned at the back of her mind, a constant simmer of _this is why I am here, do not forget,_ but oh, she'd missed her first found family so much, and Sabo had waited nearly two weeks, he could wait for them a little bit longer.

Tiger smiled at her, gently. "I'm glad, kid," he told her, "it sounds like you've found your own way to bring our two species together."

She laughed again, relief and pride and joy pooling together inside of her before rising like a bubble. It suddenly occurred to her that Ace was still waiting behind her.

She turned to see him smiling at them. The familiar twinge of pain at the incongruity of Sabo's face with Ace inside shot through her heart, but she brushed it off. Koala reached back and took Ace's hand, pulling him forwards. He stumbled slightly as he moved, surprised.

"Tiger-san," Koala said, turning back to him with a beam, "this is Ace, my brother." (Her heart sang again - her second found family, meeting her first, it felt _right)_ "He's not, um, quite himself at the moment. We're here to find someone."

Ace and Tiger gave each other the well-practiced pirate gaze of sizing someone up before Ace bowed to Tiger. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, grinning, "Thanks for takin' care of my sister."

Tiger grinned, all sharp teeth, but Koala felt comforted by the old, still familiar sight. "Brother, huh? Has she grown out of her old habits yet?"

"Tiger-san!" Koala yelped. The answer was 'yes, mostly,' but _Ace_ didn't need to know about her old compulsive cleaning issues. Tiger held up his hands.

"Alright, never mind. I'm sure she's done fine."

"She has," Ace answered, grinning at Koala. She grinned back at him.

"I'm glad t'see you again, kid," Tiger said after a pause, smiling again at Koala.

She smiled back, happiness thrumming in her chest. "You, too."

Ace shuffled his feet and tried not to look impatient. At least, Koala _assumed_ he was trying, because he was failing pretty badly. "Sorry, Tiger-san," she said, taking pity on him, "we should go. It was _so, so good_ to see you again."

He grinned, sharp teeth on display once more. "It was good to see you too. I'll see you around, kid."

Koala wavered - right, he'd have to think she was dead. She wanted to correct him, to reassure him, to explain why she wouldn't be around, but…she wasn't sure if she could find the words.

"Probably not," Ace said for her, and she nearly punched him for lack of tact. "We're not staying around long, gonna leave once we find our brother."

Tiger paused. "Oh, I see. One of those situations. Well, I'm heading back out myself before the day's end. Glad I could catch you."

Koala and Ace exchanged startled glances. ' _One of those…?'_ But the gate guard had said there weren't heroes, so...whatever Tiger was talking about must be different from what Ace had meant.

Koala decided that, with only three hours of sleep, she didn't have the energy to figure out what it was, and instead devoted her mental energy to thanking all the gods she knew of for letting her meet Tiger in a nearly-impossible stroke of luck.

...Suddenly, she understood what Ace had meant by 'Luffy Senses.'

"Goodbye, Tiger-san," she smiled, and waved as Ace gave a little sigh of relief and started to walk off.

They went their separate ways.

"...We're not going back into the hotel?" Koala asked after a pause, "I could use more sleep."

Ace jerked. "Oh, right, yeah," he said, and did a one-eighty back towards the hotel plaza, "sleep would probably be good."

Koala laughed. "Good thing you aren't narcoleptic right now, huh?"

Ace's responding laugh was awkward and stilted, and Koala quietly cursed herself for trying to make light of the situation. "Probably."

She reached out after a moment, and patted him on the arm.

And then someone tackled Ace out of _completely nowhere,_ and Koala's returning drowsiness vanished in a flood of adrenaline.

* * *

Thatch had seen some shit in his afterlife.

Course, he'd seen a bunch of shit in his _life-_ life, but being dead just made everything so much more _surreal,_ y'know? At least at first.

Like, c'mon. Some-odd months ago he'd been stabbed in the back and found himself at the city arches, and they'd set him up with a job as a cook, and that job had led to befriending a bunch of odd characters at his job, coworkers and customers alike.

This included-but-was-not-limited-to the guy who regularly flirted with him, the one-handed cook who could serve up dishes better than his as long as she had backup, the prince who decided he'd rather join up with a pirate crew to cook, the weird guy who kept lighting himself on fire by accident, and the Pirate King.

 _That_ one had been kind of a shock. It didn't help that Thatch had met him because the King's wife had punted him through a wall. She'd apologized and said she'd pay for it, then dragged him out by his ear, the man whining the whole time. Ace's mom had definitely passed on her fight.

Thatch's job was pretty great.

Even better - well. Not better for the living, but fantastic for _him -_ Pops had finally kicked it. Management had gone around and told all of Pop's children that Whitebeard had arrived (at least they were good for _something)_. Thatch was sad for the brothers and sisters his father had left behind; but on the other hand, it was _Pops._ Thatch could never say he was sad that his father was back with him.

Plus, Pops showing up meant the Whitebeard pirates of Sailor's Refuge were going to throw a party for a week straight, _minimum._

Or...they'd been prepared to (party, and get the whole 'war' story figured out), when someone had asked where Ace was, and the barely-budding party had crashed to a screeching halt. Not only was Ace (their dear, _adorable_ freckle-faced little brother) apparently dead, he was apparently _missing._ Management should have gotten him to Pops and the party otherwise - someone had gone in and taken it up with them, but they were still stubbornly insisting there _was_ no Portgas D. Ace in the Afterworld.

That gave Thatch hope, but the eyewitnesses were entirely and totally certain that Ace had died in that war, and the eyewitnesses included Pops. So they started searching themselves, on foot. So far, it had been close to two weeks, with no luck.

Luck came to Thatch as he caught a flash of orange from the corner of his eye. The orange of Ace's hat. He spun on his heel, heart beating double-time as hope curled in his gut.

Hope curled, rose - and died, because those were _Ace's_ beads, _Ace's_ hat, _Ace's_ knife, worn by someone with blond hair and a scarred face and too-nice clothes.

Not Ace. _Definitely_ not Ace. But carrying his things. Wearing them like he owned them. Like...

' _Like trophies.'_

Thatch saw red, and charged him.

* * *

 **I'm going to bed now good night**

 **Edit: Read over the chapter and made corrections now that it's not the middle of the night. Still unbeta'd.**


End file.
